Maternal Cosmetics and the Risk of Autism: A Case-Control Pilot Study

Background: There has been much debate and inquiry surrounding the nature of the increase in prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There are many environmental risk factors that have been postulated to be associated with the development of ASD. Cosmetic products are widely used in daily life. The aim of this study was to clarify whether maternal cosmetics usage is a risk factor of ASD. Patients and Methods: The present work was a cross sectional case-control study. Fifty eight mothers with children, who have been diagnosed with ASD by meeting the DMS-5 criteria, were compared with 49 mothers with neurotypical children. The mothers were asked to complete a short questionnaire comprised their use of cosmetics outside of pregnancy and changes in use during pregnancy. Results: No statistically significant difference was found between cases and controls as regard the overall usage of cosmetics. Indoors usage of makeup was significantly higher among mothers with autistic children than mothers of controls (p = 0.36). The duration of cosmetics usage was significantly higher among the mothers of controls than mothers with autistic children (p = 0.011). Eyes and lips makeup were the most frequent of makeup type among mothers with autistic children and controls while hair protein or keratin were the least frequent of makeup type among both groups. The number of women who reported the usage of lips makeup was significantly higher among the mothers of controls than those with autistic children (p = 0.024). The number of mothers with autistic children who reported “no change” as regard the usage pattern during pregnancy was significantly higher than those of the controls (p = 0.042). Conclusions: According to our results, cosmetics could not be considered as a risk factor for ASD. Further understanding of this issue requires future studies with different designs.