Relationship between serum folic acid and 25(OH)D levels and intelligence and core symptoms in children with autism

Abstract

To study the relationship between folic acid and 25-hydroxy vitamin D[25(OH)D] and intelligence and core symptoms in children with autism. A total of 124 children with autism aged 3-6 years who were admitted to The Fouth Affiliated Hospital of Qiqihar Medical College from March 2018 to March 2021 were enrolled as the case group, and 120 healthy children who underwent physical examination in hospital during the same period were selected as the control group. Respectively in the hospital the same day or physical examination on two groups of children fasting venous blood collected 4 mL, let stand centrifugal after processing into-80 ℃ refrigerator, using chemiluminescence immunoassay and high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry detection of two groups of children folic acid and serum 25(OH)D level, using enzyme-linked immunosorbent method to detect the serum level of folic acid metabolites. For the children in the case group and the control group, the Wechsler scale for early childhood and child intelligence(WISC) was used to assess intelligence. Core symptoms of autism were assessed using the behavior scale for autistic children(ABC). T test was used to compare serum folic acid and 25(OH)D levels, WISC and ABC scale scores between the case group and the control group. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between serum folic acid, 25(OH)D level and intelligence and core symptoms in children with autism. The serum folic acid and 25(OH)D levels in the case group were(16.13±4.26) ng/mL and(25.78±3.24) ng/mL respectively, which were lower than those in the control group(21.58±5.37) ng/mL and(36.94±6.11) ng/mL, with statistical significance(all P<0.05). The WISC scale score of the case group was(62.83±11.73) points, lower than that of the control group(89.42±12.58) points, while the ABC scale score was(77.39±10.28) points, higher than that of the control group(42.30±5.87) points, with statistical significance(all P<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis showed that serum folic acid and 25(OH)D levels were positively correlated with WISC score(r=0.512, 0.584; P=0.012, 0.001), and was negatively correlated with ABC scale score(r=-0.546, -0.602; P=0.008, <0.001). The serum THFA and 5-MTHF levels in the case group were(3.85±1.22) ng/mL and(4.84±1.32) ng/mL respectively, which were lower than those in the control group(4.30±1.51) ng/mL and(5.34±1.34) ng/mL respectively. The serum FRAA level was(433.29±74.34) pg/mL, higher than that of the control group(402.10±65.87) pg/mL, with statistical significance(all P<0.05). The serum folic acid and 25(OH)D levels are lower in children with autism, and are closely related to the intelligence and core symptoms of the children, that is, with the decline of the two serological indicators, the lower the intelligence of children with autism, and the more obvious the core symptoms.