Study to Explore Early Development (SEED) Follow up Studies, Components A, B, D & E

自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)是一种神经发育障碍，大约1.5%的儿童受到影响 在美国。患有自闭症的人在社交方面有缺陷或兴趣受限， 重复性行为；但严重程度和模式差异很大，对一些人来说会传递终身损害。它是 不清楚自闭症的表现是如何从儿童早期到青春期或成年期的。原因何在 ASD的致病基因也是未知的，尽管大量证据支持基因和 环境因素。这些知识差距的存在是因为美国的研究到目前为止缺乏样本量， 数据收集的深度，或适当的人生历程时机来解决这些问题。早期探索的研究 开发(SEED)现在能够解决这些先前的限制。SEED是一项大型病例对照研究 2-5岁儿童及其家庭，分三个阶段在八个州实施。收集的种子 关于儿童ASD核心症状、认知状态和是否存在共生条件的详细数据 儿童早期，以及与产妇健康和围产期环境有关的广泛危险因素，如 以及基因组学。种子样本包括2044名ASD儿童和1950名非ASD儿童 发育性残疾(DD)和2285名人口控制儿童(POP)，使其成为最大的病因 自闭症在美国的研究。最近的辅助研究-种子青少年试点和种子冠状病毒研究-将很快 分别为一些种子参与者添加有关青少年健康和大流行后果的数据。 这里提出的工作，种子后续研究(SEED FU)，将最大限度地发挥现有种子数据的影响 通过分析ASD的表型特征并评估遗传和基因之间的潜在相互作用 可更改的风险因素。Seed Fu还将促进儿童中期、青春期和 成年期早期自闭症表型在不同发育阶段的变化及其相关因素 健康、教育和服务需求贯穿整个生命早期过程。这些数据将进一步使潜在的 通过成人早期结局分析早期生活因素与儿童后期的关系。 研究与生命过程表型亚群相关的风险因素也可能有助于阐明以前的病因 在自闭症病例对照研究中戴着面具。马里兰州种子队与SEED Network的 协作基础设施和广泛的现有数据资源，将确保成功实施 种子傅园慧在马里兰州学习，为整个网络的成功做出了贡献。种子的动力很强，可以制作 对我们理解复杂的自闭症表型和识别相关因素有重大贡献 在人群中存在自闭症风险。种子夫所获得的知识将极大地提高我们的预防能力 不利的发育结果，并支持患有自闭症的个人及其家人确保最佳 通过成年早期的幸福。

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impacts approximately 1.5% of children in the United States. Individuals with ASD experience deficits in social communication or restricted interests and repetitive behavior; but the severity and patterns vary greatly and convey lifelong impairment for some. It is unclear how the presentation of ASD changes from early childhood into adolescence or adulthood. The causes of ASD are also unknown, though substantial evidence supports the contribution of both genes and environmental factors. These gaps in knowledge exist because US studies to date have lacked the sample size, depth of data collection, or appropriate life course timing to address these questions. The Study to Explore Early Development (SEED) is now able to address these prior limitations. SEED is a large case-control study of children ages 2-5 years and their families, implemented across eight states over three phases. SEED collected detailed data on children’s core ASD symptoms, cognitive status, and presence of co-occurring conditions in early childhood, along with extensive risk factors related to maternal health and the perinatal environment as well as genomics. The SEED sample includes 2044 children with ASD, 1950 children with non-ASD developmental disabilities (DD), and 2285 population control children (POP), making this the largest etiologic study of ASD in the US. Recent ancillary studies - the SEED Teen Pilot and SEED COVID studies -- will soon add data on adolescent health and the consequences of the pandemic, respectively, for some SEED participants. The work proposed here, SEED Follow-up Studies (SEED FU), will maximize the impact of extant SEED data through analyses that characterize ASD phenotypes and assess the potential interplay between genetic and modifiable risk factors. SEED FU will also facilitate new data collection in middle childhood, adolescence and early adulthood to characterize changes in ASD phenotype across developmental stages, and the associated health, educational, and service needs across the early life course. These data will further enable prospective analyses of associations between early life factors and later childhood through early adulthood outcomes. Studying risk factors in relation to life course phenotypic subgroups may also help elucidate etiologies previously masked in ASD case-control studies. The Maryland SEED Team in combination with the SEED Network’s collaborative infrastructure and extensive extant data resources, will ensure the successful implementation of the SEED FU Study in Maryland and contribute to success across the network. SEED is well-powered for making significant contributions to our understanding of the complex autism phenotype and identifying factors associated with ASD risk in the population. The knowledge gained by SEED FU will greatly advance our ability prevent adverse developmental outcomes and to support individuals with ASD and their families to ensure optimal wellbeing through early adulthood.