Primal Health Databank: Study
| Entry No: | 0390 |
| Title: | Association between psychological symptoms in adults and growth in early life: longitudinal follow up study |
| Author(s): | Cheung YB, Khoo KS, Karlberg J, Machin D |
| Reference: | BMJ 2002 Oct 5;325(7367):749 |
| Place of Study: | UK |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that birth weight for gestational age and weight gain in early childhood have a long term association with psychological distress in adults. It is a longitudinal study of 1958 birth cohort followed to age 42 years involving 9731 subjects with valid perinatal, postnatal, and adult data. Malaise inventory scores were measured at ages 23, 33, and 42 years. Psychological distress score was inversely related to birthweight z score (a measure of birth weight related to gestational age) and weight gain from birth to the age of 7 years. A unit increase in birthweight z score or childhood weight gain was associated with a mean reduction in psychological distress score of 0.10 (95% confidence interval 0.05 to 0.15) and 0.06 (0.02 to 0.10), respectively. Birth weight and weight gain were also inversely related to the odds of having a high level of psychological distress, with odds ratios being 0.90 (0.85 to 0.95) and 0.93 (0.89 to 0.98), respectively. The authors conclude that the association of size at birth and psychological distress persists into middle age and that the potential impact of small size at birth may be partly compensated for by a faster weight gain in early childhood. |
| Keyword(s): | anxiety, birth weight, psychological distress |
| Discussion: | This study is unique in that the sample size was large and the members were followed up to 42 years of age. |
| See Also: | No related entries mentioned for this entry |
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