It has long been said that children born prematurely have an increased risk of some diseases and even some behavioral disorders such as ADHD. It is even said that some will have worse academic results and more adaptation problems in general than those born at term.
Now, one more step has been taken with a new study, since this reality has been confirmed, and the authors state that premature babies have a higher risk of suffering from ADHD and that the more premature they are, the greater the risk.
The study has been carried out in Sweden and to carry it out an (impressive) sample of one million children of school age has been taken and they have tried to reach the conclusion that they tell us, valuing environmental or genetic factors that could be true causes (and not premature birth) and observing that, in effect, prematurity does influence future behavior.
Some facts about the study
To show the results a little, I tell you the data obtained with the study. As the authors explain the babies born between the 35th and 36th week of gestation are 30% more likely to have ADHD in comparison with full-term babies and also in comparison with their full-term siblings (a measure used to determine whether the environment and the environment could be the real culprits of suffering from this disorder).
From that moment (the 35 weeks), the risk increases gradually as the weeks of gestation decrease. So, Babies born between weeks 23 and 28 are more than twice as likely to have ADHD than those born at term, between weeks 39 and 41.
How did they do the study
For the study they used government records of more than one million school-age children born between 1987 and 2000 and compared that information with the prescription drug records.
Those children who had taken at least one stimulant during 2006 were considered as children with ADHD. Keep in mind that in Sweden only specialists who are familiar with the disorder can prescribe ADHD medications, so the process seems quite reliable.
After this sieve they appeared 7,605 children with medication history for ADHD, which represents 1% of the boys studied and 0.3% of the girls.
They studied the characteristics of all these children, valuing the mother's age, education, smoking habits, the fact of being a single parent, government assistance and the history of psychiatric disorders of the parents. They also observed the results of the Apgar test in children, as well as the low birth weight.
After that they began to see that Being born too early seemed to be related to an increased risk of ADHD and this difference was also observed when there was a brother who was born at term (who did not suffer from the disease).
What repercussions can this study have?
Well, I hope it has the same repercussions that the disappearance of the baby check had in the speech of health professionals: that advancing a delivery on the whim of the professional or the mother may have risks to the health of the mother and the baby, being a clear example this one that we comment today.
Until that date it seems that there was no major problem because a child was born a little earlier "because that way you will not weigh so much", "because the mother is already tired", "because August arrives and I, gynecologist, will not be here" and when Word spread that some mothers were asking to have their birth advanced to collect the 2,500 euros from the government, professionals went everywhere saying that what his colleagues had done so far without anyone saying anything was a real nonsense when the decision was made by the mothers.
That is, if there were already a few reasons to let the pregnancies run their course and that the babies are born when they have to be born, now there is one more: The sooner a baby is born, the greater the risk of suffering from ADHD.
