How do maternal lifestyle and health-related exposures during pregnancy affect child neurodevelopment? (MoBa-Preg)
Project description for MoBa-Preg
Summary
Do maternal lifestyle and health-related exposures during pregnancy affect child neurodevelopment? If they do, these exposures could potentially be targeted via interventions to reduce the burden of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Moreover, the key for deciding whether pregnancy is the right time to intervene to reduce an exposure (or its impacts) is whether the exposure has an intrauterine effect on child outcomes. While a wide range of maternal exposures during pregnancy have been linked to child neurodevelopmental deficits, findings have been inconsistent and conflicting. Interventions will only be effective if the targeted exposures are truly causal. We will overcome key limitations of previous studies by triangulating results from multiple approaches, including Mendelian randomization, an innovative approach to assessing causality of environmental exposures by using genetic instruments for the exposures. This project is in a unique position to determine which pregnancy exposures causally affect child neurodevelopment by using the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), the world’s largest cohort of mothers, fathers and children. We will identify potential intervention targets, a critical step to developing effective health service interventions, improving child outcomes, and reducing the personal, family and societal costs of neurodevelopmental deficits.
Contact person
People
Anne-Siri Øyen