ArticleTranslational psychiatry2018
Maternal smoking during pregnancy and autism: using causal inference methods in a birth cohort study.
Article in Translational psychiatry, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- Methodological approaches, challenges, and opportunities in the application of Mendelian randomisation to lifecourse epidemiology: A systematic literature review.European journal of epidemiology · 2024Pooled it
- Mendelian randomisation approaches to the study of prenatal exposures: A systematic review.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2021Pooled it
- The reporting and handling of missing data in genetic epidemiological studies of mental health in childhood and adolescence: A systematic review.JCPP advances · 2026Article
- Associations of prenatal metal exposures with autism-related outcomes in the ECHO cohort.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2026Article
- Interaction between parental preconception and prenatal smoking and alcohol use on autism-like behaviour in preschoolers: a cross-sectional study in Huizhou, China.BMJ paediatrics open · 2026Article
- Maternal smoking based on pre-birth health examination and risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring: insights from a Korean mother-child cohort.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Offspring: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Assessing Causality Between Second-Hand Smoking and Potentially Associated Diseases in Multiple Systems: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2024Article
- Deep-Learning-Based Analysis Reveals a Social Behavior Deficit in Mice Exposed Prenatally to Nicotine.Cells · 2024Article
- Adult neurogenesis in the ventral hippocampus decreased among animal models of neurodevelopmental disorders.Frontiers in neural circuits · 2024Article
- DNA methylation as a potential mediator of the association between prenatal tobacco and alcohol exposure and child neurodevelopment in a South African birth cohort.Translational psychiatry · 2022Article
- Maternal tobacco smoking and offspring autism spectrum disorder or traits in ECHO cohorts.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2022Article
- Guts Imbalance Imbalances the Brain: A Review of Gut Microbiota Association With Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Review
- A biomarker-based study of prenatal smoking exposure and autism in a Finnish national birth cohort.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2021Article
- Genetics of substance use disorders in the era of big data.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2021Review
- DNA methylome perturbations: an epigenetic basis for the emergingly heritable neurodevelopmental abnormalities associated with maternal smoking and maternal nicotine exposure†.Biology of reproduction · 2021Review
- The association of in utero tobacco smoke exposure, quantified by serum cotinine, and Autism Spectrum Disorder.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2021Article
- Smoking and Neuropsychiatric Disease-Associations and Underlying Mechanisms.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Bias due to Selection on Live Births in Studies of Environmental Exposures during Pregnancy: A Simulation Study.Environmental health perspectives · 2021Article
- Causal inference with observational data: the need for triangulation of evidence.Psychological medicine · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
An association between maternal smoking in pregnancy and autism may be biologically plausible, but the evidence to date is inconsistent. We aimed to investigate the causal relationship between maternal smoking during pregnancy and offspring autism using conventional analysis and causal inference methods. In the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children we investigated the association of maternal smoking during pregnancy (exposure) with offspring autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or possible ASD diagnosis (n = 11,946) and high scores on four autism-related traits (outcomes) (n = 7402-9152). Maternal smoking was self-reported and also measured using an epigenetic score (n = 866-964). Partner's smoking was used as a negative control for intrauterine exposure (n = 6616-10,995). Mendelian randomisation (n = 1002-2037) was carried out using a genetic variant at the CHRNA3 locus in maternal DNA as a proxy for heaviness of smoking. In observational analysis, we observed an association between smoking during pregnancy and impairments in social communication [OR = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.29, 1.87] and repetitive behaviours, but multivariable adjustment suggested evidence for confounding. There was weaker evidence of such association for the other traits or a diagnosis of autism. The magnitude of association for partner's smoking with impairments in social communication was similar [OR = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.30, 1.87] suggesting potential for shared confounding. There was weak evidence for an association of the epigenetic score or genetic variation at CHRNA3 with ASD or any of the autism-related traits. In conclusion, using several analytic methods, we did not find enough evidence to support a causal association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and offspring autism or related traits.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.