ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2021
Associations Among Maternal Metabolic Conditions, Cord Serum Leptin Levels, and Autistic Symptoms in Children.
Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mapping evidence on maternal metabolic conditions and child neurodevelopment in the Caribbean: a scoping review.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and childhood neurodevelopment: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PLoS medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Biopsychosocial factors during pregnancy and their implications for autism spectrum disorder: a scoping review.BMC pediatrics · 2026Article
- Maternal obesity and diabetes during pregnancy and early autism screening score at well-child visits in standard clinical practice.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2024Article
- Peripubertal Alterations of Leptin Levels in Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Elevated or Normal Body Weight.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- The impact of maternal diabetes on the future health and neurodevelopment of the offspring: a review of the evidence.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Review
- Linoleic acid and linoleate diols in neonatal cord blood influence birth weight.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionAccumulating evidence has shown that maternal metabolic conditions, such as pre-pregnancy overweight, diabetes mellitus, and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are potential risk factors of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it remains unclear how these maternal conditions lead to neurodevelopmental outcomes in the offspring, including autistic symptoms. Leptin, an adipokine that has pro-inflammatory effects and affects fetal neurodevelopment, is a candidate mediator of the association between maternal metabolic factors and an increased risk of ASD. However, whether prenatal exposure to leptin mediates the association between maternal metabolic conditions and autistic symptoms in children has not been investigated yet.
methodsThis study investigated the associations between mothers' metabolic conditions (pre-pregnancy overweight, diabetes mellitus during or before pregnancy, and HDP), leptin concentrations in umbilical cord serum, and autistic symptoms among 762 children from an ongoing cohort study, using generalized structural equation modeling. We used the Social Responsive Scale, Second Edition (SRS-2) at 8-9 years old to calculate total T-scores. Additionally, we used the T-scores for two subdomains: Social Communication and Interaction (SCI) and Restricted Interests and Repetitive Behavior (RRB).
resultsUmbilical cord leptin levels were associated with pre-pregnancy overweight [coefficient = 1.297, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.081-1.556, DISCUSSION: The present study uncovered an association between cord leptin levels and autistic symptoms in children, while maternal metabolic conditions did not have an evident direct influence on the outcome. These results imply that prenatal pro-inflammatory environments affected by maternal metabolic conditions may contribute to the development of autistic symptoms in children. The findings warrant further investigation into the role of leptin in the development of autistic symptoms.
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