Parental psychiatric disorders and autism spectrum disorders

• Published in: Psychiatry research Vol. 207; no. 3; pp. 203 - 211
• Main Authors: Jokiranta, Elina, Brown, Alan S, Heinimaa, Markus, Cheslack-Postava, Keely, Suominen, Auli, Sourander, Andre
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ireland Ltd 30-05-2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Affective; Asperger's syndrome; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Child; Child clinical studies; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - diagnosis; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - epidemiology; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - psychology; Child of Impaired Parents - psychology; Child, Preschool; Childhood autism; Community Health Planning; Developmental disorders; Epidemiology; Female; Finland - epidemiology; Humans; Infantile autism; Male; Medical sciences; Mental Disorders - diagnosis; Mental Disorders - epidemiology; Mental Disorders - psychology; Parents - psychology; Pervasive developmental disorders—unspecified; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Risk factors; Schizophrenia; Young Adult; Finland; Finnish Medical Birth Register; International Classification of Diseases; Childhood autism; CPR; Finnish Hospital Discharge Register; FIPS-A; Schizophrenia; ICD; Epidemiology; Autism spectrum disorder; Risk factors; FHDR; WGA; ASD; Asperger's syndrome; Pervasive developmental disorder, unspecified; Affective; FMBR; Pervasive developmental disorders—unspecified; PDD-NOS; Finnish Prenatal Study of Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders; Finnish Central Population Register; Weight for gestational age; Human; Affect affectivity; Parent pathology; Developmental disorder; disorders—unspecified; Psychosis; Autism; Pervasive developmental disorder; Asperger syndrome; Risk factor; Development; Mental disorder; Pervasive developmental; Child; Public health
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2013.01.005

Abstract The present population-based, case-control study examines associations between specific parental psychiatric disorders and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) including childhood autism, Asperger's syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder (PDD-NOS). The cohort includes 4713 children born between 1987 and 2005 with diagnoses of childhood autism, Asperger's syndrome or PDD-NOS. Cases were ascertained from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register, and each was matched to four controls by gender, date of birth, place of birth, and residence in Finland. Controls were selected from the Finnish Medical Birth Register. Parents were identified through the Finnish Medical Birth Register and Finnish Central Population Register. Parental psychiatric diagnoses from inpatient care were collected from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register. Conditional logistic regression models were used to assess whether parents' psychiatric disorders predicted ASD after controlling for parents' age, smoking during pregnancy and weight for gestational age. In summary, parental schizophrenia spectrum disorders and affective disorders were associated with the risk of ASD regardless of the subgroup. PDD-NOS was associated with all parental psychiatric disorders investigated. Further studies are needed to replicate these findings. These results may facilitate the investigation of shared genetic and familial factors between ASD and other psychiatric disorders.