Component A: Study to Explore Early Development (SEED) Follow up Studies

自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一种神经发育障碍，在美国影响超过1.5%的儿童。 States.患有ASD的个体经历社交沿着缺陷， 重复的行为症状的严重程度和模式可以有很大的不同，并持续终身。是 尚不清楚从幼儿期到青春期或成年期自闭症谱系障碍的表现如何变化。的原因 ASD的发病率也是未知的，尽管大量证据支持遗传和 环境因素由于迄今为止美国的研究缺乏样本， 规模、数据收集的深度或适当的生命周期时间来解决重要问题。书房 探索早期发展（SEED）现在准备克服这些限制。SEED是一种大型病例对照 对2-5岁儿童及其家庭的研究，分三个阶段在8个州实施。种子 收集了关于儿童核心ASD症状、认知状态和合并症的详细数据， 儿童早期的健康状况，沿着与孕产妇健康和围产期保健有关的广泛风险因素， 环境以及基因组学。SEED样本包括约2,044名ASD儿童，1,950名非ASD儿童 发育障碍（DD）和2，285名人口控制儿童（POP），使其成为最大的病因 ASD在美国的研究最近的辅助研究-种子青少年试点和种子新冠病毒研究-将很快 分别为一些种子和发展中国家增加关于青少年健康和流行病后果的数据 参与者这里提出的工作，种子后续研究（种子FU），将最大限度地发挥现有的影响， 通过分析表征ASD表型并评估 遗传和其他风险因素。SEED FU还将促进儿童中期的新数据收集， 青春期和成年早期的ASD表型的变化， 以及整个生命早期的相关健康、教育和服务需求。这些数据将进一步 通过早期生活因素和儿童后期之间的关联进行前瞻性分析， 成年的结果。研究与生命过程表型亚组相关的风险因素也可能有所帮助 阐明以前在ASD病例对照研究中被掩盖的病因。WI SEED团队与 SEED网络的协作基础设施和广泛的现有数据资源将确保 在威斯康星州成功实施SEED FU研究，并为整个网络的成功做出贡献。 种子是很好的动力，使我们对复杂的自闭症表型的理解作出重大贡献 并确定与人群中ASD风险相关的因素。通过SEED FU获得的知识将 大大提高我们预防不良发展结果的能力，并支持ASD患者， 他们的家庭，以确保最佳的福祉，通过早期的成年。

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting >1.5% of children in the United States. Individuals with ASD experience deficits in social communication along with restricted interests or repetitive behavior. The severity and patterns of symptoms can vary greatly and be lifelong in duration. 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 genetic and environmental factors. Major 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 important questions. The Study to Explore Early Development (SEED) is now poised to overcome these 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 ~2,044 children with ASD, 1,950 with non-ASD developmental disabilities (DD), and 2,285 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 other 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 WI 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 Wisconsin and contribute to success across the network. SEED is well powered to make 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.