Pitt Public Health study finds childhood autism associated with increased exposure to air toxics

Oct. 22--PITTSBURGH -- A new study of children in southwestern Pennsylvania has found a link between autism spectrum disorder and air pollution.

According to preliminary findings from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health investigation, children with ASD were more likely to have been exposed to higher levels of air toxics, specifically chromium and styrene, during their mother's pregnancies and the first two years of life, than children without it.

"Despite its serious social impact, the causes of autism are poorly understood," said Dr. Evelyn Talbott, the study's principal investigator and professor of epidemiology at Pitt Public Health. "Very few studies of autism have included environmental exposures while taking into account other personal and behavioral risk factors. Our analysis is an addition to the small but growing body of research that considers air toxics as one of the risk factors for ASD."

The national organization Autism Speaks reports that one in 68 children, and one in 42 boys, are now affected by ASD, which includes a range of conditions characterized by social deficits and communication difficulties.

Talbott and her colleagues compared 217 families of children with ASD born between 2005 and 2009 and living in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Washington and Westmoreland counties with two separate sets of families of children without ASD in the same areas.

The team used the Environmental Protection Agency's most recent National Air Toxics Assessment to estimate the exposure to 30 pollutants known to cause health issues.

Children who fell into higher exposure groups to styrene and chromium had a 1.4- to two-fold greater risk of ASD. Styrene is used in the production of plastics and paints, and also results from burning gasoline in vehicles, according to Pitt. Chromium in air pollution typically is the result of industrial processes and the hardening of steel, but it also can come from power plants.

Other NATA compounds that showed increased risk included cyanide, methylene chloride, methanol and arsenic, which are used in a number of industries and can be found in vehicle exhaust.

Some of the compounds often are found together so further analysis is needed, researchers said, noting that they also must confirm the new findings with studies that measure specific exposure to air pollutants at an individual level.

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