Objective

Maternal rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the offspring. We assessed the potential influence of both maternal and paternal RA on the risk of ASD in offspring to disentangle the influence of genetic inheritance from other conditions potentially leading to fetal programming.

Method

The nationwide cohort study included all children born alive from 1977 to 2008 in Denmark (N = 1,917,723). Cox regression models were used to calculate hazard rate ratios (HR) of ASD in offspring exposed to maternal or paternal RA, compared to unexposed children.

Results

Maternal RA was associated with an approximately 30% increased risk of ASD in the offspring (HR = 1.31 and 95% CI = 1.06−1.63). Also, paternal RA seemed to increase the risk of ASD by approximately 30% (HR = 1.33, 95% CI = 0.97−1.82).

Conclusion

Our findings suggest maternal as well as paternal RA to be associated with an increased risk of ASD in the offspring, indicating that genetic factors associated with RA may also play a role in the etiology of ASD in children of parents with RA.

中文翻译：

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父母的后代类风湿关节炎和自闭症谱系障碍：丹麦全国队列研究

客观的

产妇类风湿关节炎（RA）与后代自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的风险增加有关。我们评估了母本和父本RA对后代ASD风险的潜在影响，以将遗传遗传的影响与可能导致胎儿编程的其他情况区分开来。

方法

这项全国性队列研究包括了1977年至2008年在丹麦出生的所有儿童（N = 1,917,723）。使用Cox回归模型来计算与未暴露儿童相比，暴露于母体或父亲RA的后代的ASD危险率（HR）。

结果

孕妇RA与后代发生ASD的风险增加约30％（HR = 1.31和95％CI = 1.06-1.63）。而且，父亲RA似乎会使ASD的风险增加约30％（HR = 1.33，95％CI = 0.97-1.82）。

结论

我们的发现表明，母亲和父亲RA与后代中ASD的风险增加有关，这表明与RA相关的遗传因素也可能在RA父母的孩子的ASD病因中起作用。