Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31008439›Full record

ArticleEnvironmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.)2018

Air pollution and Autism in Denmark.

Beate Ritz, Zeyan Liew, Qi Yan, Xin Cui, Jasveer Virk, Matthias Ketzel, Ole Raaschou-Nielsen

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
50citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
4.0field-weighted citation impact, top 6% 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

50 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 97 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Prenatal exposure to extreme heat and autism in children.The Science of the total environment · 2026
    Article
  7. Prenatal Exposure to Wildfire and Autism in Children.Environmental science & technology · 2026
    Article
  8. Prenatal exposure to wildfire-related PMEnvironment international · 2026
    Article
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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

7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Beate RitzDepartment of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, USA; Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Zeyan LiewDepartment of Epidemiology, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA.
Qi YanDepartment of Epidemiology, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA.
Xin CuiDepartment of Epidemiology, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA.
Jasveer VirkDepartment of Epidemiology, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA.
Matthias KetzelDepartment of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark.
Ole Raaschou-NielsenDanish Cancer Society Research Center, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark.
University of California, Los Angeles · USAarhus University · DK

Funding

Air Pollution and Autism in DenmarkR21ES024269 · NIEHS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI RITZ, BEATE R. · 2015 to 2016
$362k
NIEHS NIH HHS R21 ES024269
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPrevious autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and air pollution studies focused on pregnancy exposures, but another vulnerable period is immediate postnatally. Here, we examined early life exposures to air pollution from the pre- to the postnatal period and ASD/ASD subtypes in the Danish population.

methodsWith Danish registers, we conducted a nationwide case-control study of 15,387 children with ASD born 1989-2013 and 68,139 population controls matched by birth year and sex identified from the birth registry. We generated air dispersion model (AirGIS) estimates for NO2, SO2, PM2.5 and PM10 at mothers' home from 9 months before to 9 months after pregnancy and calculated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), adjusting for parental age, neighborhood socio-economic indicators, and maternal smoking using conditional logistic regression.

resultsIn models that included all exposure periods, we estimated adjusted ORs for ASD per interquartile range (IQR) increase for 9 month after pregnancy with NO2 of 1.08 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.15) and with PM2.5 of 1.06 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.11); associations were smaller for PM10 (1.04; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.09) and strongest for SO2 (1.21; 95% CI: 1.13, 1.29). Also, associations for pollutants were stronger in more recent years (2000-2013) and in larger cities compared with provincial towns/rural counties. For particles and NO2, associations were only specific to autism and Asperger diagnoses.

conclusionOur data suggest that air pollutant exposure in early infancy but not during pregnancy increases the risk of being diagnosed with autism and Asperger among children born in Denmark.

Indexed as

air pollutionASD subtypeautismearly postnatal exposurestraffic

Identifiers

PMID31008439
PMCPMC6474375
OpenAlexW2895221805

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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.