No abstract

Background: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) of different levels of symptom severity may exhibit a wide range of behaviours and characteristics. There is a limited nutritionrelated study on children with ASD of different severity in Malaysia. Aims: This cross-sectional study aims to determine the association between sociodemographic factors, parental factors, and lifestyle factors with autism severity in children with ASD. Methods and procedures: A total of 224 children with ASD were included in this study. Their mothers completed a self-administered questionnaire on sociodemographic characteristics, autism severity, parenting style, parental feeding practices, parenting stress, child's sleep habits and eating behaviours. Outcomes and results: As high as 78.1 % of the children with ASD demonstrated a high level of autism severity. Multiple linear regression showed that father's employment status (B = 6.970, 95 % CI = 3.172, 10.768, p < 0.001) and perceived child weight (B = 3.338, 95 % CI = 1.350, 5.327, p = 0.001) predicted autism severity. Conclusions and implications: Children with ASD in this study had a high level of autism severity. Regular anthropometric measurements by healthcare professionals should be conducted at the autism intervention centres. It is important to have multidisciplinary collaboration in future research to develop customised guidelines for parents with autistic children.

No abstract

BackgroundThe microbiota plays a key role in early immunity maturation that affects infant health and is associated with the development of non-communicable diseases and allergies in later life.ObjectiveThe MYBIOTA is a prospective mother-infant cohort study in Malaysia aiming to determine the association between gut microbiota with infant health (temperament, gastrointestinal disorders, eczema, asthma, and developmental delays) in Selangor, Malaysia.MethodsPregnant mothers will be enrolled in their first trimester of pregnancy, and follow-ups will be done for infants during their first year of life. Maternal-infant biological samples (blood, feces, saliva, urine, and breast milk), anthropometric, dietary, and clinical information will be collected at different time points from early pregnancy to 12 months postpartum.DiscussionThis study could provide a better understanding of the colonization and development of the gut microbiome during early life and its impact on infant health.Clinical trial registrationhttps://clinicaltrials.gov/, identifier NCT04919265.