Table 1. Characteristics of Mothers and Children Included in the Analysis from the CHARGE Cohorta.
| N = 479 | All (Mean (Sd) or N (%)) | TD | ASD | P-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| child sex | 0.99 | |||
| female | 91 (19) | 47 | 44 | |
| male | 388 (81) | 201 | 187 | |
| child race/ethnicity | 0.25 | |||
| white (non-hispanic) | 246 (51.36) | 135 (54.44) | 111 (48.05) | |
| non-white (non-Hispanic) | 102 (21.29) | 46 (18.55) | 56 (24.24) | |
| Hispanic any race | 131 (27.35) | 67 (27.02) | 64 (27.71) | |
| child age at assessment (in years) | 3.94 (0.75) | 3.82 (0.75) | 4.05 (0.73) | <0.01 |
| child year of birth (baseline 2000)c | 6.86 (3.08) | 6.48 (2.91) | 7.26 (3.21) | <0.01 |
| parental homeowner status | 0.09 | |||
| no | 137 (28.60) | 62 (25.00) | 75 (32.47) | |
| yes | 342 (71.40) | 186 (75.00) | 156 (67.53) | |
| maternal age at child’s birth | 30.57 (5.56) | 30.42 (5.43) | 30.73 (5.71) | 0.38 |
| maternal metabolic conditiond | 0.01 | |||
| healthy (BMI < 25) weight and no metabolic conditions | 230 (48.02) | 124 (50.00) | 106 (45.89) | |
| overweight (BMI: 25–29.9) and no metabolic conditions | 102 (21.29) | 60 (24.19) | 42 (18.18) | |
| obese (BMI > 30), no other metabolic conditions | 68 (14.20) | 36 (14.52) | 32 (13.85) | |
| any hypertensive disorder (including obesity) or diabetes | 79 (16.49) | 28 (11.29) | 51 (22.08) | |
| MEPBb (in ng/mL) | 5.87 (2.87) | 5.47 (2.81) | 6.31 (2.87) | <0.01 |
| DEPb (in ng/mL) | 2.01 (1.78) | 1.76 (1.64) | 2.27 (1.89) | <0.01 |
| PRPBb (in ng/mL) | 3.02 (2.96) | 2.66 (2.94) | 3.39 (2.95) | <0.01 |
All chemical concentrations were transformed to log (base 2) and corrected for specific gravity.
Top three chemicals in terms of weights from WQS regression.
All children were born after 2000.
The mutually exclusive covariate maternal metabolic condition was created in previous studies by merging BMI categories with any hypertensive disorder and obesity and was shown to be associated with neuro-developmental outcomes in children.73 P-values for the difference between ASD and TD groups were calculated using the Fisher exact test for categorical variables and the Wilcoxon rank-sum test for continuous variables. ASD, Autism Spectrum Disorder; TD, typical development; BMI, body mass index; MEPB, methyl paraben; DEP, diethyl-phosphate; PRPB, propyl paraben.