title: [Association between mothers' body mass index before pregnancy or weight gain during pregnancy and autism in children].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the relationship between mothers' body mass index (BMI) before pregnancy or weight gain during pregnancy and autism in children.
  
  
  METHODS
  From 2013 to 2014, the 181 children with autism and 181 healthy children matched by sex and age from same area were included in this study. According to mothers' BMI before pregnancy, the selected cases were divided into 3 groups: low, normal and high group. Then 3 groups were divided into 3 subgroups based on mother' s weight gain during pregnancy: low, normal and high group, according to the recommendations of Institute of Medicine. Logistic regression analysis and χ(2) test were conducted with SPSS 18.0 software to analysis the relationship between mothers' BMI before pregnancy or weight gain during pregnancy and autism in children.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The age and sex distributions of case group and control group were consistent (χ(2)=0.434, P>0.05). The mothers' BMI before pregnancy of case group was higher than that of control group (χ(2)=9.580, P<0.05) ,which was (21.28±3.80) kg/m(2) for case group and (19.87±2.83) kg/m(2) for control group. The proportion of cases in high BMI group (10.5%) was much higher than that in control group (2.8%) . The risk of children with autism in high BMI group was 3.7 times higher than that in normal BMI group (OR=3.71, 95% CI: 1.34-10.24). In normal BMI group, the proportion of mothers who had excessive weight gain during pregnancy was higher in case group (44.1%) than in control group (33.9%). In high BMI group, the proportion of mothers who had excessive weight gain was higher in case group (52.6%) than in control group (20.0%) . In normal BMI group (χ(2) =8.690, P<0.05) and high BMI group (χ(2)=4.775, P<0.05), the weight gain during pregnancy was associated with autism in children. Logistic regression analysis showed that mothers' BMI before pregnancy (unadjusted OR=1.89, 95% CI: 1.26-2.85, adjusted OR=1.52, 95% CI: 1.19-2.27) and weight gain during pregnancy were the risk factors for autism in children (unadjusted OR=1.63, 95% CI: 1.08-1.25, adjusted OR=1.64, 95% CI: 1.21-2.21).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overweight or obesity before pregnancy and excessive weight gain during pregnancy were associated with autism in children, suggesting that women who plan to be pregnant should pay attention to body weight control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
authors.forename: Ziyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ling
authors.affiliation: Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
authors.forename: Jianmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Hunan Children's Hospital.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
authors.forename: Shengnan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
authors.forename: Senbei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China; Email: fyebzj@126.com.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D001321:Autistic Disorder; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009035:Mothers; D009765:Obesity; D050177:Overweight; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000208:ethnology*