Does Periconceptional Fish Consumption by Parents Affect the Incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intelligence Deficiency?A Case-control Study in Tianjin,China

Objective This study aimed to explore the association between periconceptional fish consumption by parents and autism spectrum disorder （ASD） and intelligence deficiency （ID）. Methods A case-control study was conducted through a questionnaire with 108 ASD cases, 79 ID cases, and 108 controls. The ASD and ID cases were students from special educational schools in Tianjin from 2012 to 2014. The age- and sex-matched controls were from a high school, three primary schools, and a kindergarten in Tianjin. Multivariate logistic regression was performed. Results Paternal habit of eating hairtail before fertilization, maternal preference for fruits during pregnancy, and maternal habit of eating grass carp during pregnancy were preventive factors for ASD. Paternal habit of drinking alcohol before fertilization was a risk factor for ID, whereas maternal preference for fruits during pregnancy and maternal habit of eating crucian carp during pregnancy were protective factors for ID. Conclusion Parental fish consumption is beneficial for the prevention of ASD and ID. Meanwhile, the protective effects of fish consumption on ASD and ID differ. More attention should be paid to the combined effect of other food when eating fish.

Association between Prenatal Environmental Factors and Child Autism: A Case Control Study in Tianjin,China

Objective To investigate the association between autism and prenatal environmental risk factors.Methods A case-control study was conducted among 193 children with autism from the specialeducational schools and 733 typical development controls matched by age and gender by usingquestionnaire in Tianjin from 2007 to 2012. Statistical analysis included quick unbiased efficientstatistical tree （QUEST） and logistic regression in SPSS 20.0.Results There were four predictors by QUEST and the logistic regression analysis, maternal airconditioner use during pregnancy （OR=0.316, 95% CI： 0.215-0.463） was the single first-level node（χ2=50.994, P=0.000）; newborn complications （OR=4.277, 95% CI： 2.314-7.908） and paternalconsumption of freshwater fish （OR=0.383, 95% CI： 0.256-0.573） were second-layer predictors（χ2=45.248, P=0.000; χ2=24.212, P=0.000）; and maternal depression （OR=4.822, 95% CI： 3.047-7.631）was the single third-level predictor （χ2=23.835, P=0.000）. The prediction accuracy of the tree was 89.2%.Conclusion The air conditioner use during pregnancy and paternal freshwater fish diet might bebeneficial for the prevention of autism, while newborn complications and maternal depression might bethe risk factors.