MedPage Today reported: Maternal health conditions during pregnancy were consistently associated with autism spectrum disorder but several factors varied across race and ethnic groups, a large retrospective study of U.S. children showed.

Autism prevalence differed by race and ethnicity, but most maternal health conditions during the perinatal period had similar relationships with autism, reported Magdalena Janecka, PhD, of NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York City, and co-authors.

However, four conditions -- maternal overweight and obesity, depression, asthma, and pregnancy complications -- showed racial and ethnic differences in the magnitude of their association with autism, Janecka and colleagues wrote in JAMA Network Open.

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