TY - JOUR AU - Sagireddy, Sowmya AU - Nayak, Shivananda B. AU - Brewster, Natasha AU - Nanan, Varsha AU - Harry, Rajiv AU - Ali, Mikhail AU - Fraser, Alexander AU - Greaves, Rachelle AU - Singh, Visham AU - Barclay, Sally PY - 2019/10/24 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Investigating risk factors for developing autism, cerebral palsy and down syndrome in a Trinidadian population JF - International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences JA - Int J Res Med Sci VL - 7 IS - 11 SE - Original Research Articles DO - 10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20194970 UR - https://www.msjonline.org/index.php/ijrms/article/view/6864 SP - 4073-4083 AB - <p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Autism, Cerebral Palsy and Down Syndrome are three lifelong, non-curable common developmental disorders that affect approximately 1 in 59, 1 in 323, and 1 in 700 children respectively. This research is to study the effects of prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal factors on the development of Autism, Cerebral Palsy (CP) and Down Syndrome (DS) in a Trinidadian population.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> This was a descriptive case-control study comprised 75 subjects, with 25 cases from each of the three disorders investigated, i.e. autism, CP and DS.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> The highest risk of autism was associated with mothers having high stress levels (p=0.002), high blood pressure (0.042), and low iron levels (p=0.012) during the pregnancy, as well as having a family history of autism (p=0.002) and residing in an air polluted area (p=0.034). The highest risk of cerebral palsy was associated with a child being born preterm (case 24%, control 0; p=0.009), experiencing postnatal complications (case 80%, control 4%, p=0.000), having a birth weight less than 2500 g (p=0.002), having an abnormal appearance at birth (p=0.045), specifically the prevalence of blue baby (case 20%, control 0) and abnormal appearance (case 12%, control 4%), a case father having a low educational level (p=0.002), a case of mother having gestational diabetes during the pregnancy (p=0.037) and having older mothers (p=0.033) and fathers (p=0.033) than the controls. The highest risk of down syndrome was associated with mothers having high stress (p=0.017) and blood pressure (p=0.021) during pregnancy.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> The findings of our research confirm that autism, CP and DS are multi-factorial developmental disorders. A combination of environmental conditions, genetics, prenatal and postnatal factors are associated with an increased risk of developing autism, cerebral and down syndrome.</p> ER -