A study in Sweden has found an interesting link between premature birth, and a diagnosis of ADHD. The earlier a baby is born, the more likely that baby will eventually be diagnosed with ADHD. This might be something for mothers to consider before scheduling a cesarean birth.
There seems to be a lot of different studies that are focusing on premature birth in the news lately. Some of these studies focus on trying to discover the cause behind premature births. Others searched for correlations between a mother who was herself born prematurely, and the likelihood that her pregnancy will result in a premature birth. This is the first study, however, that looked at premature birth, and attempted to identify it’s connection to a later diagnosis of ADHD.
Researchers in Sweden did a study that involved analyzing data from a database that contained information on more than one million children. The children ranged in age from six years old to nineteen years old. Out of the more than a million children in the group, a total of 7,506 of them had been diagnosed with ADHD, and were receiving a prescription medication in order to treat it.
Next, the researchers looked to see how many of these children were born prematurely. Out of those that were, they noted how many weeks early that the child was born. The results showed that the children who were born extremely prematurely, (between 23 and 28 weeks of pregnancy), were the most likely to develop ADHD later on in their lives. Those that were born full term (after 39 weeks), had a much lower risk of developing ADHD. The babies who were born between 23 and 28 weeks of pregnancy were two and a half times more likely to develop ADHD than the babies who were born after 39 weeks.
Fifteen out of every 1,000 babies who were born between 23 and 28 weeks of pregnancy received a prescription for ADHD medication later on, when the child was older. Seven out of every 1,000 children born between 37 and 38 weeks of pregnancy ended up being prescribed ADHD medication when they were older. Only six out of every 1,000 babies who were born full term, (between 39 and 41 weeks of pregnancy), ended up getting prescribed ADHD medication when they were older.
The results seem to indicate that the more prematurely a baby is born, the higher the risk that the child will develop ADHD. The researchers suggest that the best way to minimize this risk is to plan the birth for as close as possible to the full term due date (or week 40 of the pregnancy). Those that schedule a cesarian birth just a few weeks earlier than full term increase their child’s risk of developing ADHD.
Image by Anders Sandberg on Flickr