Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33479207›Full record

SynthesisTranslational psychiatry2021

Maternal acute and chronic inflammation in pregnancy is associated with common neurodevelopmental disorders: a systematic review.

Velda X Han, Shrujna Patel, Hannah F Jones, Timothy C Nielsen, Shekeeb S Mohammad, Markus J Hofer, Wendy Gold, Fabienne Brilot, Samantha J Lain, Natasha Nassar and 1 more

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

Synthesis in Translational psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 218 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
218citing papers in PubMed, 10 pooled it
54.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% 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

218 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 361 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  6. 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
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  12. Medicinal cannabis plant extract (NTI164) modifies epigenetic, ribosomal, and immune pathways in paediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2026
    Trial
  13. Trial
  14. Tourette syndrome.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2026
    Review
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158 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

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

11 authors at 1 institution in 3 countries.

Velda X HanKids Neuroscience Centre, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-4633-4316
Shrujna PatelKids Neuroscience Centre, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-4928-692X
Hannah F JonesKids Neuroscience Centre, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Timothy C NielsenChild Population and Translational Health Research, Children's Hospital at Westmead Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-8801-572X
Shekeeb S MohammadKids Neuroscience Centre, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-1219-4781
Markus J HoferThe Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-5111-3978
Wendy GoldThe University of Sydney, School of Medical Sciences and Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Fabienne BrilotKids Neuroscience Centre, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-7025-2276
Samantha J LainChild Population and Translational Health Research, Children's Hospital at Westmead Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Natasha NassarChild Population and Translational Health Research, Children's Hospital at Westmead Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Russell C DaleKids Neuroscience Centre, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia. russell.dale@sydney.edu.au.ORCID 0000-0002-2495-1826
The University of Sydney · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Inflammation is increasingly recognized as a cause or consequence of common problems of humanity including obesity, stress, depression, pollution and disease states such as autoimmunity, asthma, and infection. Maternal immune activation (MIA), triggered by both acute and systemic chronic inflammation, is hypothesized to be one of the mechanisms implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). Although there is substantial preclinical evidence to support the MIA hypothesis, the human evidence is disparate. We performed a systematic review on human studies examining associations between maternal inflammatory states and offspring NDDs (autism spectrum disorder- ASD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder-ADHD, Tourette syndrome-TS). 32 meta-analyses and 26 additional individual studies were identified. Maternal states associated with ASD include obesity, gestational diabetes mellitus, pre-eclampsia, pollution, stress, depression, autoimmune diseases, and infection. Maternal states associated with ADHD include obesity, pre-eclampsia, smoking, low socioeconomic status (SES), stress, autoimmune disease, and asthma. Maternal states associated with TS include low SES, depression, and autoimmune diseases. Diverse maternal inflammatory states in pregnancy are associated with common offspring NDDs. Given the increased prevalence of NDDs, there is urgent need to explore relative and cumulative maternal risk factors and disease mechanisms. Defining preventable risk factors in high-risk pregnancies could mitigate the expression and severity of NDDs.

Indexed as

Attention Deficit Disorder with HyperactivityAutism Spectrum DisorderNeurodevelopmental DisordersPrenatal Exposure Delayed EffectsFemaleHumansInflammationPregnancyRisk Factors

Identifiers

PMID33479207
PMCPMC7820474
OpenAlexW3123281643

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.