Health research proposal

Introduction Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD’s) are disabilities that affect social and communication skills, and cause behavioural changes (CDC, 2012). There are three types of ASD’s; Asperger Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and Autistic disorder (autism). Autistic disorder will be the focus of this study (CDC, 2012). Children develop autism before the age of three years and struggle with it throughout their lives (CDC, 2012). “Autism creates many challenges in the child’s life and it negatively impacts; intellectual disabilities, language delays, social and communication difficulties and unexpected behaviour and interests” (CDC, 2012). Autism does not segregate between racial and ethnic groups, nor does it relate to socioeconomic status; however it has been proven to occur more often in males than in females (CDC, 2012). Over the past decade there has been a significant increase in the number of autistic diagnoses (CDC, 2012). Evidence has shown that the development of autism occurs during the pregnancy phase (Schmidt, 2011); which leads this study to analyze the association between intake of iron, and zinc during pregnancy and preventing autism in the offspring.
Specific Aims
The proposed study will be focused on whether women who take iron and zinc supplements during the three trimesters of the pregnancy will reduce the risk of autism in their offspring. The goal of this study is to develop an association between vitamin exposures and the outcome of prevented risk of autism. The proposal can potentially establish correlations that will help identify, and prevent risk factors of autism. Two objectives for this study are: to measure the prevalence of autism among young children in Canada, and to compare the levels of exposure and disease among three different cities in Canada.
Background:
There have been different studies conducted to explore the significant role of pre-natal vitamins, specifically folate, in neurodevelopment in the fetuses.