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，影响美国1.5%的儿童 各州。患有自闭症的人在社交方面有缺陷，兴趣有限或 重复的行为。症状的严重程度和模式可能差异很大，并持续终生。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的致病因素也是未知的，尽管大量证据支持遗传和 环境因素。知识上的主要差距是因为美国的研究到目前为止还缺乏样本 数据收集的规模、深度，或解决重要问题的适当生命历程时间安排。这项研究旨在 探索早期开发(SEED)现在正准备克服这些限制。SEED是一种大型病例对照 对2-5岁儿童及其家庭的研究，分三个阶段在八个州实施。种子 收集有关儿童ASD核心症状、认知状态和是否存在共生症状的详细数据 儿童早期状况，以及与孕产妇健康和围产期有关的广泛风险因素 环境和基因组学。种子样本包括约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 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 对于一些SEED，分别添加关于青少年健康和大流行后果的数据 参与者。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的影响 通过分析ASD表型的特征并评估ASD之间的潜在相互作用来传播数据 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， 青春期和成年期早期表征ASD在不同发育阶段的表型变化 以及整个早期生命过程中相关的健康、教育和服务需求。这些数据将进一步 能够对早期生活因素和童年后期至早期之间的关联进行前瞻性分析 成年后的结果。研究与生命周期表型亚群相关的风险因素也可能有所帮助 阐明先前在ASD病例对照研究中被掩盖的病因。WI SEED团队与 种子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了SEED FU研究，并为整个网络的成功做出了贡献。 SEED很有能力为我们理解复杂的自闭症表型做出重大贡献 以及确定与人群中ASD风险相关的因素。种子傅志会学到的知识 极大地提高了我们预防不良发育后果的能力，并支持患有自闭症和 他们的家庭，以确保在成年早期的最佳幸福。

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.