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Table 1 Proportion of children to have diagnosed autism or extreme levels on autistic trait measures within each group of increasing prenatal total mercury levels

From: Prenatal mercury exposure and features of autism: a prospective population study

Prenatal blood mercury (μg/L)a

Diagnosed autism, % (n)

Autistic traits, % (n)

Poor social cognition

Poor sociability

Poor coherence

Repetitive behavior

≤ 1.28

1.34 (11)

12.7 (51)

12.7 (68)

12.4 (48)

6.6 (30)

1.29–1.68

0.51 (4)

12.2 (53)

12.6 (70)

10.7 (45)

6.9 (32)

1.69–2.10

0.67 (5)

11.8 (56)

11.3 (66)

7.8 (35)

4.7 (24)

2.11–2.74

1.81 (14)

11.3 (58)

11.1 (68)

9.4 (46)

5.9 (33)

2.75–3.39

1.79 (7)

9.6 (24)

10.4 (32)

12.3 (31)

7.4 (20)

> 3.39

1.09 (4)

13.0 (34)

10.5 (32)

8.4 (21)

2.6 (7)

All affectedb

1.16 (45)

11.8 (276)

11.6 (336)

10.0 (226)

5.8 (146)

Total N

3885

2333

2902

2249

2529

P (5df)

0.112

0.840

0.827

0.181

0.102

  1. df degrees of freedom
  2. aFirst four quintiles and the last two deciles
  3. bNote that overall the percentage of extreme autistic traits varies—it is as near to 10% as possible