title: Mean serum-level of common organic pollutants is predictive of behavioral severity in children with autism spectrum disorders.
abstract: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and their pathogenesis, are growing public health concerns. This study evaluated common organic pollutant serum-concentrations in children, as it related to behavioral severity determined by rating scales and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). Thirty children, ages 2-9, with ASD and thirty controls matched by age, sex, and socioeconomic status were evaluated using direct blood serum sampling and ADOS. Pooling concentrations of all studied pollutants into a single variable yielded cohort-specific neurobehavioral relationships. Pooled serum-concentration correlated significantly with increasing behavioral severity on the ADOS in the ASD cohort (p = 0.011, r = 0.54), but not controls (p = 0.60, r = 0.11). Logistic regression significantly correlated mean pollutant serum-concentration with the probability of diagnosis of behaviorally severe autism, defined as ADOS >14, across all participants (odds ratio = 3.43 [95% confidence: 1.14-10.4], p = 0.0287). No specific analyte correlated with ADOS in either cohort. The ASD cohort displayed greater quantitative variance of analyte concentrations than controls (p = 0.006), suggesting a wide range of detoxification functioning in the ASD cohort. This study supports the hypothesis that environmental exposure to organic pollutants may play a significant role in the behavioral presentation of autism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boggess
authors.affiliation: The Children's Institute of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Faber
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kern
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: H M Skip
authors.initials: HMS
authors.lastname: Kingston
mesh_terms: D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000032:analysis*; D044967:Serum / Q000737:chemistry*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D009930:Organic Chemicals