Parental migration and Asperger’s syndrome
Open accessAbstract
Parental immigration has been suggested as a possible risk factor for autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but findings have been inconsistent. Very few studies have focused specifically on Asperger's syndrome. The aim of this study was to examine the association between maternal and paternal immigration and the diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome in offspring. The study was a nested case-control study based on a national birth cohort in Finland. Children born in 1987-2005 and diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome by the year 2007 were identified from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register (N = 1,783). Four matched controls for each case were selected from the Finnish Medical Birth Register (N = 7,106). Information on maternal and paternal country of birth and mother tongue was collected from the Finnish Central Population Register. The study showed that children whose parents are both immigrants have a significantly lower likelihood of being diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome than those with two Finnish parents [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0.2, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.1-0.4]. No significant associations were found between having only one immigrant parent and the diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome. A regional analysis showed a significantly decreased likelihood of the diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome in children whose mother (aOR 0.1, 95 % CI 0.01-0.5) or father (aOR 0.2, 95 % CI 0.05-0.5) was born in Sub-Saharan Africa. The findings may help in identifying risk factors for different ASD subtypes. On the other hand, they might reflect service use of immigrant families in Finland.
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A later Finnish hospital discharge diagnosis study focusing on Asperger syndrome found a reduced risk in immigrant families, including those from Sub-Saharan Africa.
“Another later Finnish hospital discharge diagnosis study on the matter, focusing on Asperger syndrome only, found a reduced risk in immigrant families, including those from Sub-Saharan Africa [227].”
From The contribution of environmental exposure to the etiology of autism spectrum disorder (2019) · cites this paper as [227]
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- Authors
- Lehti, V., Cheslack-Postava, K., Gissler, M., Hinkka-Yli-Salomäki, S., Brown, A. S., & Sourander, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Turku (FI)
- New York State Psychiatric Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lehti, Venla
- Venue
- European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
- Published
- 2014-11-08
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 941-948
- ISSN
- 1018-8827 (ISSN-L)
- 1435-165X
- PMC
- PMC4425612
- OpenAlex
- W1995105974
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 1.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- STM:n Hallinnonalan avoin julkaisuarkisto (Julkari) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Autism Speaks
- National Institutes of Health
- Medical Research Council (MR/K006525/1)
- National Institute of Mental Health (5T32 MH 13043, K02MH065422, T32MH013043, 1K02 MH 65422)
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (R01ES019004)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Family and Disability Support Research
- Keywords
- Asperger syndrome, autism spectrum disorder, immigrant children, maternal country of birth, risk factors, sub-Saharan Africa, mother tongue, immigrant families
- MeSH terms
- Autism Spectrum Disorder, Adult, Child, Child, Preschool, Fathers, Female, Finland, Humans, Male, Mothers, Parents, Registries, Residence Characteristics, Risk Factors, Odds Ratio, Case-Control Studies, Risk Assessment, Asperger Syndrome, Emigrants and Immigrants
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