[Association between the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies and the occurrence of autism spectrum disorder in childhood]

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the association between the presence of antiphospholipid (APL) antibodies and the occurrence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in childhood.

Methods: A prospective, monocentric case-control study from February 2012 to August 2014 comparing the APL antibodies of children with ASD (group 1) and children without ASD (group 2).

Results: Group 1 consisted of 44 children with ASD defined by clinical, genetic, metabolic, and morphological criteria. Group 2 consisted of 26 control children without ASD. One of children with ASD (2.3 %) had persistent anticardiolipin (ACL) antibodies, five of them (11.4 %) had persistent APL antibodies, one of them (2.3 %) had antiannexin V (AAV) antibodies, and two of them (4.5 %) had antiphosphatidylethanolamine (APE) antibodies. Two of the control children (7.7 %) had persistent APL antibodies. None of them had persistent ACL, AAV, or APE antibodies. Comparing group 1 and 2 children, no significant difference was found between the presence and the titers of conventional and non conventional antibodies (P<0.05). Furthermore, one mother of an autistic child (3 %) had persistent APL antibodies.

Conclusion: ASD had no significant relation with the presence of APL antibodies.