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There appears to be a higher risk for psychiatric disturbance in the
childhood and young adult years in babies with low birth-weight, in
comparing with those of normal birth-weight, according to a report
released on September 1, 2008 in the Archives of General
Psychiatry, unitary of the JAMA/Archives
journals. This correlation appeared to be greater for children in urban
communities than those in suburbia.
Advances in medical care have allowed lower weighing newborns to
survive into childhood. According to the article: "Advances in neonatal
medicine take
raised the survivorship of low-birth-weight infants (2,500 grams [about
5.5 pounds] or less), specially very low-birth-weight infants (1,500
grams [about 3.3 pounds] or less) and highly low-birth-weight
infants (1,000 grams [2.2 pounds] or less)." Previously, studies have
shown that lower birth-weight children have an increased danger of
internalizing, externalizing, and attention problems.
To investigate this connection further in a long-run study, Kipling
M.
Bohnert, and Naomi Breslau, PhD, of Michigan State University,
East Lansing, examined 823 children in the Detroit area. Of these, 413
children came from a socially disadvantaged community of interests while 410 lived
in a middle class suburb. Each child was evaluated by mothers and
teachers at 6, 11, and 17 years old. Any psychiatric disturbances were
classified in one of three ways: externalizing (including delinquent
and aggressive behavior), internalizing (including acting indrawn or
signs of anxiety/depression), and attention (including symptoms of
ADHD, like an inability to pay attention or to follow directions).
Externalizing and internalizing problems were more likely in scurvy
birth-weight children than in normal birth-weight children in the like
community. The authors note: "An
increased risk of attention problems was associated with low birth
weight only when in the urban community of interests and was greater among very
low-birth-weight children (advisement 1,D grams or less) than heavier
low-birth-weight children (weighing 1,501 grams to 2,500 grams)." They
continue, commenting on the other exposures: "In the suburban
community, there was no increased risk
for attention problems associated with miserable birth weight. Psychiatric
outcomes of low birth weight did not vary across ages of assessments."
The authors conclude, with hopes that identification of this risk
factor could impact children's early lives. "Attention
problems at the start of schooling predict lower pedantic achievement
later, controlling for key factors that lead to academic test
dozens, which in turn predicts termination of schooling and curtailed
educational attainment," they say. "Attention problems
influence academic performance by reduction the time that students
devote to class acquisition and preparation assignments and hinder
organization and process habits."
They finally indicate a need for intervention:�"Early
interventions to improve attention skills in urban low-birth-weight
children mightiness yield better outcomes later."
Stability of Psychiatric Outcomes of Low Birth Weight: A
Longitudinal Investigation
Kipling M. Bohnert, BA; Naomi Breslau, PhD
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008;65(9):1080-1086.
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Written by Anna Sophia McKenney
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