Low birth weight linked to psychiatric problems in kids
Washington, Sept 2 :: A new study has found that low-birth-weight kids appear to be at
higher risk for psychiatric disturbances from childhood through high school than
normal-birth-weight children.
Also, low-birth-weight kids from urban communities may be more likely to have attention
problems than suburban low-birth-weight children.
Previous studies have found that low-birth-weight children appear to have an increased
risk of internalizing, externalizing and attention problems.
In the new study, Kipling M. Bohnert, B.A., and Naomi Breslau, Ph.D., of Michigan State
University, East Lansing, examined the long-term association between low-birth-weight and
psychiatric problems among 413 children from a socially disadvantaged community in Detroit
and 410 children from a middle-class Detroit suburb.
Children's psychiatric disturbances were rated by mothers and teachers at ages 6, 11
and 17.
Psychiatric disturbances were separated into three categories: externalizing, including
delinquent and aggressive behaviour; internalizing, including withdrawn behaviour and
anxiety/depression; and attention, including characteristic symptoms of ADHD such as not
being able to pay attention for long or difficulty following directions.
Low-birth-weight children were more likely to exhibit externalizing and internalizing
problems than normal-birth-weight children in their community.
"An increased risk of attention problems was associated with low birth weight only in
the urban community and was greater among very low-birth-weight children (weighing 1,500
grams or less) than heavier low-birth-weight children (weighing 1,501 grams to 2,500
grams)," the authors said.
"In the suburban community, there was no increased risk for attention problems
associated with low birth weight. Psychiatric outcomes of low birth weight did not vary
across ages of assessments."
"Attention problems at the start of schooling predict lower academic achievement later,
controlling for key factors that contribute to academic test scores, which in turn
predicts termination of schooling and curtailed educational attainment.
"Attention problems influence academic performance by reducing the time that students
devote to class learning and homework assignments and hinder organization and work
habits.
"Early interventions to improve attention skills in urban low-birth-weight children
might yield better outcomes later," they added.
The study is published in the September issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of
the JAMA/Archives journals. :
--ANI
