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Mothers who are obese during pregnancy have almost twice the odds of having a child with autism as women who weigh less, a US study suggests.
When women are both obese and have diabetes, the autism risk for their child is at least quadrupled, researchers report in the journal Pediatrics.
"In terms of absolute risk, compared to common pediatric diseases such as obesity and asthma, the rate of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the US population is relatively low, however, the personal, family and societal impact of ASD is enormous," said senior study author Dr Xiaobin Wang, a public health and pediatrics researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
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About one in 68 children have ASD, which includes autism as well as Asperger syndrome and other pervasive developmental disorders, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Put another way, that's about 1.5 per cent of US children. The study findings suggest the risk rises closer to about three per cent of babies born to women who are obese or have diabetes, and approaches five to six per cent when mothers have the combination of obesity and diabetes.
To explore the connection between autism and maternal health, Wang and colleagues analysed data on 2,734 mother-child pairs who were followed at Boston Medical Center between 1998 and 2014.
Most of the children, 64 per cent, weren't diagnosed with ASD or any other development disorders, but there were 102 kids who did receive an ASD diagnosis.
Compared with typically developing kids, those with ASD were more likely to be boys, born preterm and at a low birth weight. Mothers of children with ASD were likely to be older, obese and to have diabetes diagnosed before or during pregnancy.
Maternal obesity was linked to a 92 per cent increased risk for autism on its own, while diabetes diagnosed before pregnancy was associated with more than triple the risk.
