A study on the correlation between family nurturing care environment and autism/high-risk children

Objective To analyze the correlation between family nurturing care environment and autism spectrum disorders (ASD)/high-risk children, in order to provide scientific evidences for the tertiary prevention of ASD/highrisk children. Methods A case-control study was conducted, enrolling 30 children with ASD/high-risk as the case group and 113 normal children who underwent routine physical examinations at the community health service centers and district maternal and child health care hospital during the same period as the control group. Maternal prenatal and perinatal information, children's information, and family nurturing care information were collected through the child healthcare system and a self-designed questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify the relevant factors for ASD/high-risk occurrence in children. Results Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that among maternal and child factors, maternal adverse conditions during the 3 months before pregnancy and throughout pregnancy (OR=6.03, 95%CI: 1.575-23.062), and male gender (OR=4.06, 95%CI: 1.046-15.784) were positively correlated with ASD/high-risk occurrence in children (P＜0.05). Among family nurturing care factors, unbalanced dietary structure (OR=7.28, 95%CI: 1.819-29.148) was positively correlated with ASD/high-risk occurrence in children (P＜0.05), while paternal companionship (OR=0.03, 95%CI: 0.001-0.426) and parent-child interaction with responsive care (OR=0.82, 95%CI: 0.704-0.963) were negatively correlated with ASD/high-risk occurrence in children (P＜0.05). Conclusion Factors positively correlated with ASD/high-risk occurrence in children included maternal adverse conditions during the 3 months before pregnancy and throughout pregnancy, male gender, and unbalanced dietary structure. Factors negatively correlated with it included paternal companionship and parent-child interaction with responsive care. Clinically, we should comprehensively manage maternal pre-pregnancy and prenatal health, children's diet and family nurturing care, focus on developmental monitoring of boys, and achieve early detection, early diagnosis and early intervention.