Premigration social adversity and autism spectrum disorder

Natacha Augereau; Ines Lagdas; Solenn Kermarrec; Ludovic Gicquel; Virginie Martin; Jean Xavier; David Cohen; Michel Bouvet; Anne-Catherine Rolland; Sylvie Tordjman

doi:10.1192/bjo.2020.56

Premigration social adversity and autism spectrum disorder

BJPsych Open. 2020 Aug 18;6(5):e92. doi: 10.1192/bjo.2020.56.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Pôle Hospitalo-Universitaire de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent de Rennes (PHUPEA), Centre Hospitalier Guillaume Régnier (CHGR) and Université de Rennes 1, France.
² School of Medicine of Rabat, University of Rabat, Marrocco; and PHUPEA, CHGR and Université de Rennes 1, France.
³ PHUPEA, CHGR and Université de Rennes 1, France.
⁴ Pôle Hospitalo-Universitaire de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent, Centre Hospitalier Henri Laborit and Université de Poitiers, Unité de Recherche Clinique, CAPS, Poitiers, France.
⁵ Pôle Hospitalo-Universitaire de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent, Centre Hospitalier Henri Laborit; and Université de Poitiers, Unité de Recherche Clinique, CAPS, France.
⁶ Centre Hospitalier Spécialisé Henri Laborit, Poitiers; and CNRS UMR 7295 Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l'Apprentissage, Poitiers, France.
⁷ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, AP-HP, GH Pitié-Salpétrière, CNRS FRE 2987, University Pierre and Marie Curie, France.
⁸ Service Hospitalo-Universitaire de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent de Reims, Pôle Femme-Parents-Enfant, France.
⁹ Pôle Hospitalo-Universitaire de Psychiatrie de l'Enfant et de l'Adolescent (PHUPEA), Centre Hospitalier Guillaume Régnier (CHGR) and Université de Rennes 1; and Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center (INCC), CNRS UMR 8002 and Université de Paris, France.

Abstract

Background: Several studies suggest significant relationships between migration and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) but there are discrepant results. Given that no studies to date have included a pathological control group, the specificity of the results in ASD can be questioned.

Aims: To compare the migration experience (premigration, migratory trip, postmigration) in ASD and non-ASD pathological control groups, and study the relationships between migration and autism severity.

Method: Parents' and grandparents' migrant status was compared in 30 prepubertal boys with ASD and 30 prepubertal boys without ASD but with language disorders, using a questionnaire including Human Development Index (HDI)/Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) of native countries. Autism severity was assessed using the Child Autism Rating Scale, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule and Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised scales.

Results: The parents' and grandparents' migrant status frequency did not differ between ASD and control groups and was not associated with autism severity. The HDI/IHDI values of native countries were significantly lower for parents and grandparents of children with ASD compared with the controls, especially for paternal grandparents. Furthermore, HDI/IDHI levels from the paternal line (father and especially paternal grandparents) were significantly negatively correlated with autism severity, particularly for social interaction impairments.

Conclusions: In this study, parents' and/or grandparents' migrant status did not discriminate ASD and pathological control groups and did not contribute either to autism severity. However, the HDI/IHDI results suggest that social adversity-related stress experienced in native countries, especially by paternal grandparents, is potentially a traumatic experience that may play a role in ASD development. A 'premigration theory of autism' is then proposed.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD); human development index (HDI/IHDI); migration; premigration stress; social adversity.