Autism spectrum disorder tied with Increased Cancer risk: study

Whether individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have a higher-than-expected risk of cancer remains unknown.

Researchers carried out a population-based cohort study including 2.3 million individuals live-born to mothers from Nordic countries during 1987-2013 in Sweden with follow-up through 2016 (up to age 30 years). Individuals with autism spectrum disorder were ascertained through the Swedish National Patient Register. They estimated the relative risk of cancer in relation to autism spectrum disorder by odds ratios (ORs) and associated 95% confidence intervals (CIs) derived from logistic regression, after detailed adjustment for potential confounders. They also carried out a sibling comparison to address familial confounding and genetic correlation analysis using the genome-wide association study summary statistics to address confounding due to potential polygenetic pleiotropy between ASD and cancer.

Results:

• Researchers observed an overall increased risk of any cancer among individuals with autism spectrum disorder, compared with individuals without autism spectrum disorder.
• The association for any cancer was primarily noted for narrowly defined autistic disorder and autism spectrum disorder with comorbid birth defects or both birth defects and intellectual disability
• An association was also suggested for autism spectrum disorder with comorbid ID, but was not statistically significant.
• Autism spectrum disorder alone (i.e. without comorbid ID or birth defects) was not associated with an increased risk of any cancer
• Sibling comparison and genetic correlation analysis showed little evidence for familial confounding or confounding due to polygenetic pleiotropy between autism spectrum disorder and cancer.

Autism spectrum disorder per se is not associated with an increased risk for cancer in early life. The increased cancer risk among individuals with autism spectrum disorder is likely mainly attributable to co-occurring ID and/or birth defects in autism spectrum disorder.

Reference:

Liu Q, Yin W, Meijsen JJ, Reichenberg A, Gådin JR, Schork AJ, Adami HO, Kolevzon A, Sandin S, Fang F. Cancer risk in individuals with an autism spectrum disorder. Ann Oncol. 2022 Jul;33(7):713-719. doi: 10.1016/j.annonc.2022.04.006. Epub 2022 Apr 14. PMID: 35430370.

Keywords:

Autism, spectrum, disorder, increased, cancer, risk, Oncology, Vaccination, epidemiology; population-based, Q Liu 1, W Yin, J J Meijsen, A Reichenberg, J R Gådin, A J Schork, H-O Adami, A Kolevzon, S Sandin, F Fang, Annals of Oncology