Maternal Autoimmune Disease linked to ADHD in Children: JAMA Pediatrics
The evidence for bidirectional links between the immune system and the central nervous system has accumulated over the last few decades. Maternal autoimmune disease has been associated with increased risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) suggests a study published in the JAMA Pediatrics on January 19 2021. In an accompanying editorial, Søren Dalsgaard, MD, PhD, of Aarhus University in Denmark, wrote that this study adds important data to the field's understanding of ADHD's relation to specific autoimmune diseases.
Several previous epidemiologic studies have found autoimmune diseases to be associated with mental disorders, with the largest evidence base being for associations with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and an autism spectrum disorder. Multiple potential mechanisms have been proposed for the association between maternal autoimmune diseases and mental disorders. Overall, these mechanisms are thought to include shared genetic and environmental risk factors or direct effects of maternal autoantibodies or cytokines crossing the placenta and altering the fetal immune response, which in turns leads to changes in the central nervous system. However, much fewer studies have examined the associations with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), tic disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. For this purpose, researchers of the University of Sydney, Australia, conducted a study to examine the association between maternal autoimmune disease and ADHD within a population-based cohort and combine results in a subsequent systematic review and meta-analysis.
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