Autism in a Fish Eating Population

描述（由申请人提供）：该提案是一个为期两年的项目，旨在扩大塞舌尔儿童发展研究，这是一项纵向队列研究，追踪塞舌尔共和国的儿童和青少年，他们在产前通过母亲食用高含量的鱼类饮食而暴露于甲基汞。它提供了一个独特的机会来研究有争议的问题，即自闭症谱系障碍是否与甲基汞接触有关，这是一个在美国具有重大公共卫生影响的问题。最近来自445名参与SCDS的青少年的试点数据表明，社会互惠量表（一种用于筛查ASD症状的教师问卷）的分数与产前甲基汞暴露之间存在负相关。自闭症谱系障碍的预期患病率为1:166，因此需要一个非常大的队列来比较塞舌尔和其他地方的发病率。有三个青少年队列可供研究。第一组被称为主要队列，目前正在接受2-R01ES08442-05基金的资助。拟议的项目将扩大对这一队列的评估，包括社会沟通问卷（SCQ）的管理，即对自闭症的父母筛查。目前的评估方法不包括自闭症谱系障碍的测量。我们也会使用SCQ筛选其他两个队列（称为试点队列和第三队列）中未接受检查的儿童的父母，以增加检测ASD的统计能力。已知主要队列（N=739）和试点队列（N=789）受试者的产前甲基汞暴露情况。我们预计将召回另外3150名第三队列儿童的父母，他们的母亲头发样本尚未进行汞分析。拟议的项目将允许将已知产前甲基汞暴露的受试者池扩大到约4678名受试者。在项目结束时，我们将评估产前甲基汞暴露与SCQ评分之间的关系。如果结果得到证实，这个新特征的队列可以用于进一步的研究，使用标准诊断程序来澄清甲基汞和ASD之间的关系，并确定在怀孕期间因食用鱼类而暴露于甲基汞的人群中ASD的患病率。科学家和政策制定者越来越担心甲基汞暴露与自闭症谱系障碍表型之间可能存在联系。目前还没有发表的关于产前甲基汞暴露的人类研究，也没有对后代进行ASD测试。塞舌尔儿童发展研究提供了一个难得的机会来检验ASD与食用鱼类接触甲基汞之间存在关联的假设。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal is for a two-year project that expands the Seychelles Child Development Study a longitudinal cohort study following children and adolescents in the Republic of Seychelles who were exposed prenatally to MeHg through maternal consumption of a diet high in fish. It provides a unique opportunity to examine the controversial issue of whether ASD is related to MeHg exposure-an issue that has major public health implications in the United States. Recent pilot data from 445 adolescents participating in the SCDS suggested an adverse association between scores on the Social Reciprocity Scale (a teacher questionnaire used to screen for ASD symptoms) and prenatal MeHg exposure. The expected prevalence of ASD is 1:166, hence a very large cohort would be necessary to compare rates in the Seychelles and elsewhere. There are three adolescent cohorts available for study. The first, called the Main Cohort is being examined currently with funding from Grant 2-R01ES08442-05. The proposed project would expand the assessment of this cohort to include administration of the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) a parental screening for ASD. The current assessment battery does not include measures of ASD. We would also screen parents of children from the two other cohorts using the SCQ (called the Pilot Cohort and the Third Cohort) who have not been examined in order to increase statistical power to detect ASD. The prenatal exposure to MeHg is known already for the Main Cohort (N=739) and Pilot Cohort (N=789) subjects. We expect to recall an additional 3,150 parents of Third Cohort children whose maternal hair samples have not yet been analyzed for Hg. The proposed project would permit expansion of the subject pool with known prenatal MeHg exposure to approximately 4,678 subjects. At the conclusion of the proposed project, we will estimate the association between prenatal MeHg exposure and SCQ scores. If warranted by the outcome, this newly characterized cohort could then be used for further study using standard diagnostic procedures to clarify the association between MeHg and ASD and to determine the prevalence of ASD in a population with known high exposure to MeHg from fish consumption during pregnancy. Public Health Significance Concern is growing among scientists and policy makers that there may be a link between exposure to methylmercury and ASD phenotype. There are no published human studies where prenatal exposure to methylmercury has been ascertained and offspring have been tested for ASD. The Seychelles Child Development Study provides a rare opportunity to test the hypothesis that there is an association between ASD and methylmercury exposure from fish consumption.