This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Multivitamin use during pregnancy may decrease autism risk

Maternal multivitamin use during pregnancy may be inversely associated with autism with intellectual disability in offspring, according to recent findings.

“With the heritability of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) estimated to be between 50% and 80%, non-heritable risk factors contribute to a substantial proportion of ASD risk,” Elizabeth A. DeVilbiss, MPH, of Drexel University, Philadelphia, and colleagues wrote. “Research suggests that ASD develops antenatally. Maternal nutrition influences neurodevelopment and could influence the risk of ASD. However, results from population based studies have been inconsistent.”

To determine if nutritional supplementation during pregnancy reduced risk for ASD with and without intellectual disability in offspring, researchers analyzed population registers data for 273,107 mother-child pairs in Stockholm County, Sweden. The study cohort included children born between 1996 and 2007 who were aged 4 to 15 years by the end of follow-up in 2011.

Overall, ASD prevalence was 0.26% among mothers who received multivitamins and 0.48% among those with no nutritional supplementation.

Maternal multivitamin use with or without additional iron or folic acid or both was associated with lower risk for ASD with intellectual disability (OR = 0.69; 95% CI, 0.57-0.84) compared with children whose mothers did not use multivitamins, iron and folic acid.

Propensity score matched (OR = 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54-0.86) and sibling control matched (OR = 0.77; 95% CI, 0.52-1.15) analyses indicated similar estimates; however, the sibling control association was not statistically significant.

Researchers did not find consistent evidence of an inverse association between iron or folic acid use and ASD prevalence.

“We observed a potential inverse association between maternal multivitamin supplement use and ASD with intellectual disability in offspring. Whether the association is specific to autism or reflects the risk of intellectual disability needs to be explored in future research,” the researchers wrote. “Given the current understanding and strength of evidence supporting the importance of nutritional supplementation during pregnancy, these results on their own should not change current practice. Still, these findings raise questions that warrant investigation.” – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.