Association of autism with toxic metals: A systematic review of case-control studies
- PMID: 34896416
- DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2021.173313
Association of autism with toxic metals: A systematic review of case-control studies
Abstract
Environmental factors have been associated with the etiology of autism spectrum disorder ASD in recent times. The involvement of toxic metals in the generation of reactive oxygen species and their epigenetics effects have been implicated in ASD. This systemic review examines the association of toxic metals with autism in children. A systematic literature search was performed in scientific databases such as PubMed, Google scholar, and Scopus. Case-control studies evaluating toxic metal levels in different tissues of ASD children and comparing them to healthy children (control group) were identified. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to evaluate the risk of bias of the included studies. Six case-control studies with 425 study subjects met our inclusion criteria. A total of four studies indicated higher levels of As, Pb, Hg, Cd, Al, Sn, Sb, Ba, TI, W, and Zr in whole blood, RBC, in whole blood, RBC, and hair samples of children with autism compared with control suggestive of a greater toxic metal exposure (immediate and long-term). Three studies identified significantly higher concentrations of Cd, Pb and Hg in urine and hair samples of autistic children compared to control suggesting decreased excretion and possible high body burden of these metals. The findings from this review demonstrate that high levels of toxic metals are associated with ASD, therefore, critical care is necessary to reduce body burden of these metals in children with ASD as a major therapeutic strategy.
Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Case-control studies; Public health; Toxic metals.
Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Inc.
Similar articles
-
Exposure to Aluminum, Cadmium, and Mercury and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Chem Res Toxicol. 2020 Nov 16;33(11):2699-2718. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.0c00167. Epub 2020 Oct 12. Chem Res Toxicol. 2020. PMID: 32990432
-
Systematic review and meta-analysis links autism and toxic metals and highlights the impact of country development status: Higher blood and erythrocyte levels for mercury and lead, and higher hair antimony, cadmium, lead, and mercury.Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2017 Oct 3;79(Pt B):340-368. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.07.011. Epub 2017 Jul 14. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2017. PMID: 28716727 Review.
-
HAIR HEAVY METAL AND ESSENTIAL TRACE ELEMENT CONCENTRATION IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER.Georgian Med News. 2015 Nov;(248):77-82. Georgian Med News. 2015. PMID: 26656556
-
A systematic literature review on the association between exposures to toxic elements and an autism spectrum disorder.Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jan 20;857(Pt 2):159246. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159246. Epub 2022 Oct 8. Sci Total Environ. 2023. PMID: 36220469 Review.
-
Urine manganese, cadmium, lead, arsenic, and selenium among autism spectrum disorder children in Kuala Lumpur.PeerJ. 2024 Jul 4;12:e17660. doi: 10.7717/peerj.17660. eCollection 2024. PeerJ. 2024. PMID: 38974411 Free PMC article.
Cited by
-
Neurogenic Effects of Inorganic Arsenic and Cdk5 Knockdown in Zebrafish Embryos: A Perspective on Modeling Autism.Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Mar 19;25(6):3459. doi: 10.3390/ijms25063459. Int J Mol Sci. 2024. PMID: 38542432 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Update of the risk assessment of inorganic arsenic in food.EFSA J. 2024 Jan 18;22(1):e8488. doi: 10.2903/j.efsa.2024.8488. eCollection 2024 Jan. EFSA J. 2024. PMID: 38239496 Free PMC article.
-
Mercury and Autism Spectrum Disorder: Exploring the Link through Comprehensive Review and Meta-Analysis.Biomedicines. 2023 Dec 18;11(12):3344. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11123344. Biomedicines. 2023. PMID: 38137565 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Does Lead Have a Connection to Autism? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Toxics. 2023 Sep 5;11(9):753. doi: 10.3390/toxics11090753. Toxics. 2023. PMID: 37755763 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Association between heavy metals exposure (cadmium, lead, arsenic, mercury) and child autistic disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Front Pediatr. 2023 Jul 4;11:1169733. doi: 10.3389/fped.2023.1169733. eCollection 2023. Front Pediatr. 2023. PMID: 37469682 Free PMC article.
Publication types
MeSH terms
Substances
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical
Research Materials
Miscellaneous