ADVERTISEMENT
Study Finds No Evidence Prenatal Benzodiazepine Exposure Heightens ADHD, ASD Risk
Exposure to benzodiazepines in utero is not associated with increased risks of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) after adjusting for possible confounders and accounting for possible parental genetic or familial factors, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
“To our knowledge, this large population-based cohort study is the first to apply a sibling comparison method to examine the association between benzodiazepine exposures during pregnancy and subsequent neurodevelopmental disorders,” researchers wrote. “Our key finding was that, although benzodiazepine exposure during pregnancy may be associated with increased risks of ADHD or ASD when compared with non-exposed population-wide controls, no significant increase in such risks was found when compared with sibling controls.”
>>READ Prenatal Corticosteroid Exposure Increases Risk of Mental Health Disorders, ADHD
The study included 1.5 million children born in Taiwan between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2017. Among them, 5% had prenatal benzodiazepine exposure.
While initial analyses found that benzodiazepine exposure during pregnancy was associated with increased risks of the neurodevelopment disorders in offspring (hazard ratios by the trimester of exposure ranged from 1.24 to 1.27 for ADHD and from 1.10 to 1.21 for ASD), the associations dissolved when sibling comparison models were used to address potential maternal genetic confounding. With benzodiazepine exposure, hazard ratios ranged from 0.89 to 1.08 for ADHD and from 0.92 to 1.07 for ASD, depending on the trimester of prenatal exposure, when unexposed siblings were considered.
When researchers compared short-acting and long-acting benzodiazepines, the findings were similar.
“We found no significant differences in the risks of ADHD and ASD for differently exposed children born from the same mother, regardless of whether they were exposed to short-acting or long-acting benzodiazepines,” they wrote.
Reference
