Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28359263›Full record

ArticleEnvironmental health : a global access science source2017

Parental exposures to occupational asthmagens and risk of autism spectrum disorder in a Danish population-based case-control study.

Alison B Singer, Igor Burstyn, Malene Thygesen, Preben Bo Mortensen, M Daniele Fallin, Diana E Schendel

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Environmental health : a global access science source, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
0.7field-weighted citation impact, top 24% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. The Association Between Maternal Asthma and Child Autism: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025
    Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.

Alison B SingerDepartment of Epidemiology and Wendy Klag Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA. alison_singer@unc.edu.
Igor BurstynDepartment of Environmental and Occupational Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health, 3215 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
Malene ThygesenCentre for Integrated Register-based Research, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Preben Bo MortensenCentre for Integrated Register-based Research, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
M Daniele FallinDepartment of Epidemiology and Wendy Klag Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA.
Diana E SchendelCentre for Integrated Register-based Research, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Johns Hopkins University · USLundbeck Foundation · DKAarhus University · DKDrexel University · US

Funding

Biostatstics for Research in Environmental HealthT32ES007018 · NIEHS · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI Stephanie Engel, Rebecca Fry · 1985 to 2026
$31.3M
NIEHS NIH HHS T32 ES007018
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundEnvironmental exposures and immune conditions during pregnancy could influence development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in offspring. However, few studies have examined immune-triggering exposures in relation to ASD. We evaluated the association between parental workplace exposures to risk factors for asthma ("asthmagens") and ASD.

methodsWe conducted a population-based case-control study in the Danish population using register linkage. Our study population consisted of 11,869 ASD cases and 48,046 controls born from 1993 through 2007. Cases were identified by ICD-10 codes in the Danish Psychiatric Central Register. ASD cases and controls were linked to parental Danish International Standard Classification of Occupations (DISCO-88) job codes. Parental occupational asthmagen exposure was estimated by linking DISCO-88 codes to an asthma-specific job-exposure matrix.

resultsOur maternal analyses included 6706 case mothers and 29,359 control mothers employed during the pregnancy period. We found a weak inverse association between ASD and any maternal occupational asthmagen exposure, adjusting for sociodemographic covariates (adjusted OR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.86-0.99). In adjusted analyses, including 7647 cases and 31,947 controls with employed fathers, paternal occupational asthmagen exposure was not associated with ASD (adjusted OR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.92-1.05).

conclusionsWe found a weak inverse association between maternal occupational asthmagen exposure and ASD, and a null association between paternal occupational exposure and ASD. We suggest that unmeasured confounding negatively biased the estimate, but that this unmeasured confounding is likely not strong enough to bring the effect above the null. Overall, our results were consistent with no positive association between parental asthmagen exposure and ASD in the children.

Indexed as

Air PollutantsMaternal ExposureOccupational ExposureAdultAsthmaAutism Spectrum DisorderCase-Control StudiesChildDenmarkFemaleHumansMaleOdds RatioPaternal ExposureRisk FactorsAir PollutantsAutismEpidemiologyNeurodevelopmentOccupational asthmaPrenatal exposure

Identifiers

PMID28359263
PMCPMC5374665
OpenAlexW2600407338

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.