In another research summary review from my recent MedMAPS conference (see prior blogs for more details and summaries), researchers analyzed available studies considering whether pesticides may increase risks for Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder when their moms were exposed during pregnancy. With the growing prevalence of these neurodevelopmental conditions, those of us caring for these children struggling with them want real answers. While we studies on therapies are nice, what we really want to know is how to actually prevent these conditions. Prevention requires an understanding of triggers and mechanisms, so research like this meta-analysis is much appreciated.
Published in the Chemosphere journal in 2022, researchers identified 949 potentially helpful studies looking at maternal exposure to a variety of pesticides and the resulting incidence of ASD or ADHD. They evaluated the studies for quality of design and whether the study reported on outcomes that were reliable and could be combined into one meta-analysis. Such a meta-analysis attempts to take multiple smaller studies that overlap enough to be combined into a larger sample size and thus confirm or deny less certain finding from single smaller studies. From these 949 studies, only 19 were deemed adequate for inclusion in the resulting meta-analysis. Twelve studies were combined for ASD consideration and eight studies were combined for ADHD. One study looked at both ASD and ADHD in relation to maternal pesticide exposure which meant 19 studies in total were evaluated between the two conditions.
While any researcher searching for a disease’s cause would love to find that one cause like a bacteria or a virus which is 100% responsible for the disease, with autism that dream of singular cause is long dead. Many suspected triggers and contributors beginning with genetics but extending to multiple environmental suspects have been identified. Multiple genes and multiple toxins and multiple infections have been linked to autism especially and ADHD seems unlikely to have a single cause either. With that in mind, these researchers added further insights to these two pediatric conditions by demonstrating that the risks of these diseases increased when their mom’s were exposed to pesticides during pregnancy.
For ASD, the combined twelve studies resulted in a 19% increased risk of autism. That means that the baseline risk of autism without pesticides exposure was almost 20% higher. The confidence interval went from 4% to 36% which means that statistically, the true increase in risk would be between those two numbers. Beyond the total grouping of pesticides, they also looked at organophosphate pesticides, pyrethroid pesticides, organochlorine pesticides, and maternal age over 30 years. The increases in risk for these factors were 14%, 40%, 22%, and 24%.
For ADHD, the combined eight studies indicated a 20% increased risk for the children. The confidence interval ranged from 4% to 38%.
With these facts in mind, pediatric providers must address this risk factor with potential moms before conception as well as after birth and onset of these conditions. While we see benefits of detoxification therapies in children in our clinic after identification of these toxins in the child, if we can prevent such heartache and struggle in parents and children, so much more profound benefit could be attained. Beside educating and guiding future parents, joining with parents to press our policy makers to push back against industries bent on using such dangerous chemicals is the next step in prevention. Helping our next generation live healthier more abundant lives requires this multi-pronged team effort.
Reference:
Yifan Xu, Xu Yang, Danrong Chen, Yadan Xu, Linchen Lan, Shuangshuang Zhao, Qianqi Liu, Antoine M. Snijders, Yankai Xia. Maternal exposure to pesticides and autism or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders in offspring: A meta-analysis. Chemosphere. Volume 313, 2023. 137459, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.137459.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
