A group of researchers from the UK and Sweden shows that babies born very prematurely are three times more likely than others to suffer from psychiatric disorders in their lives. The study results were published in the journal Archives of general psychiatry.
The specialists analyzed data from 1.3 million Swedes medical records between 1973 and 1985 to identify those who had returned to the hospital for psychiatric illnesses until 2002. Then they checked those people who had been born prematurely. It turned out that about 6% of people with major depression and 6% of patients with psychosis were born in advance while people with bipolar disorder were about 11%.
The risk of psychosis was 2.5 times higher in babies premature, severe depression was three times more likely and bipolar disorder was 7.4 times more common among individuals born before 32 weeks of gestation.The researchers point out that the cause of the abnormalities are minor differences, but significant in brain development. In addition, babies born with little advance between 32 and 36 weeks gestation, also have psychiatric problems, but lower incidence. However, experts say the chances of a premature baby has mental problems remain low. A UN report says that in 2010, 15 million babies were born before completing the period of 40 weeks of pregnancy, premature babies are at increased risk of developing severe mental disorders