Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T03:04:16.644Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The role of perinatal problems in risk of co-morbid psychiatric and medical disorders in adulthood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 May 2007

YOKO NOMURA ,
JEANNE BROOKS-GUNN ,
CHARLES DAVEY ,
JACOB HAM  and
WILLIAM P. FIFER
YOKO NOMURA*
Affiliation:
Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
JEANNE BROOKS-GUNN
Affiliation:
Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, USA Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, USA
CHARLES DAVEY
Affiliation:
The School at Columbia University, New York, USA
JACOB HAM
Affiliation:
Beth Israel Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
WILLIAM P. FIFER
Affiliation:
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, USA New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, New York, NY, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: Yoko Nomura, Ph.D., M.P.H., Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustav L. Levy Place, Box 1230, New York, NY10029, USA. (Email: yoko.nomura@mssm.edu)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Perinatal problems may be associated with an increased risk for psychological and physical health problems in adulthood, although it is unclear which perinatal problems (low birthweight, preterm birth, low Apgar scores, and small head circumference), or what clusters of problems, are more likely to be associated with later health problems. It is also not known whether perinatal problems (singly or together) are associated with co-morbidity between psychological and physical health problems.

Method

A regional random sample (from Baltimore) of mothers and their children (n=1525) was followed from birth to adulthood (mean age 29 years). Perinatal conditions were measured at delivery. Psychological problems (depression and suicidal ideation) were measured with the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) and physical problems (asthma and hypertension) with the RAND-36 Health Status Inventory.

Results

Children with perinatal problems were generally at increased risk for depression, suicidal ideation and hypertension, and co-morbid depression and hypertension even after controlling for confounders. One possible underlying condition, preterm low birthweight (LBW), extracted by cluster analysis, considering all of the four perinatal problems, was associated with increased risk for psychological and physical health outcomes as well as co-morbidity of the two.

Conclusions

LBW, preterm birth and small head circumference singly increased the risk for both psychological and physical health problems, as well as co-morbid depression and hypertension, while low Apgar scores were only associated with psychological problems. Delineating different etiological processes, such as preterm LBW, considering various perinatal problems simultaneously, might be of benefit to understanding the fetal origin of adult illness and co-morbidity.

Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 37 , Issue 9 , September 2007 , pp. 1323 - 1334
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Adams, P. F. & Benson, V. (1990). Current estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, 1989. Vital and Health Statistics, Series 10, No. 176. DHHS Publication No. (PHS) 90-1504. United States Government Printing Office: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Allen, N. B., Lewinshon, P. M. & Seeley, J. R. (1998). Prenatal and perinatal influences on risk for psychopathology in childhood and adolescence. Development and Psychopathology 10, 513–529.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anda, R. F., Williamson, D. F., Jones, D., Macera, C., Eaker, E., Glassman, A. H. & Marks, J. (1993). Depressed affect, hopelessness, and the risk for ischemic heart disease in a cohort of US adults. Epidemiology 4, 285–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, D. J. P. (1995). Fetal origins of coronary heart disease. British Medical Journal 311, 171–174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barker, D. J. P., Eriksson, J. G., Forsen, T. & Osmond, C. (2002). Fetal origins of adult disease: strength of effects and biological basis. International Journal of Epidemiology 31, 1235–1239.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barker, D. J. P. & Lackland, D. T. (2003). Prenatal influences on stroke mortality in England and Wales. Stroke 34, 1598–1603.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bender, B. G. (2006). Risk taking, depression, adherence, and symptom control in adolescents and young adult with asthma. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 173, 953–957.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyle, M. H., Furlong, W., Feeny, D., Torrance, G. W. & Hatcher, J. (1995). Reliability of the Health Utilities Index – Mark III used in the 1991 cycle 6 General Social Survey Health Questionnaire. Quality of Life Research 4, 249–257.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Broadhead, W. E., Blazer, D. G., George, L. K. & Tse, C. K. (1990). Depression, disability days, and days lost from work in a prospective epidemiologic survey. Journal of the American Medical Association 264, 2524–2538.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chuckley, S. (1996). The neuroendocrinology of depression. British Medical Bulletin 52, 597–617.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, D. M., Smith, G. C. & Herrman, H. (1993). A comparative study of screening instruments for mental disorders in general hospital patients. International Journal of Psychiatry and Medicine 23, 323–337.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Connolly, V. (2006). Diabetes, deprivation and outcomes in the wealthy world. Diabetes Voice 51, 39–40.Google Scholar
Cox, D., Lewis, G., Stuart, G. & Murphy, K. (2002). A cross-sectional study of the prevalence of psychopathology in adults with congenital heart disease. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 52, 65–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davies, A. A., Davey-Smith, G., May, M. T. & Ben-Shlomo, Y. (2006). Association between birth weight and blood pressure is robust, amplifies with age, and may be underestimated. Hypertension 48, 431–436.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Druss, B. & Pincus, H. (2000). Suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in general medical illness. Archives of Internal Medicine 160, 1522–1526.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eriksson, J. G., Forsen, T., Tuomilehto, J., Osmond, C. & Barker, D. J. P. (2001). Early growth and coronary heart disease in later life: longitudinal study. British Medical Journal 22, 949–953.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fan, A. P. & Eaton, W. W. (2001). Longitudinal study assessing the joint effects of socio-economic status and birth risks on adult emotional and nervous conditions. British Journal of Psychiatry. Supplement 40, s78–s83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Feeny, D. H., Furlong, W. J., Torrance, G. W. & Barr, R. D. (2002). Multiattribute and single-attribute utility functions for the Health Utilities Index Mark 3 system. Medical Care 40, 113–228.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Feeny, D. (2002). Commentary on Jack Dowie, ‘Decision validity should determine whether a generic or condition-specific HRQOL measure is used in health care decisions.’ Health Economics 11, 13–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fulop, G., Strain, J. J., Fahs, M. C., Hammer, J. S. & Lyons, J. S. (1988). Medical disorders associated with psychiatric comorbidity and prolonged hospital stay. Hospital and Community Psychiatry 40, 80–82.Google Scholar
Gale, C. R. & Martyn, C. N. (2004). Birth weight and later risk of depression in a national birth cohort. British Journal of Psychiatry 184, 28–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcia-Alix, A., Saenz-de Pipaon, M., Martine, M., Salas-Hernandez, S. & Quero, J. (2004). Ability of neonatal head circumference to predict long-term neurodevelopmental outcome. Revista de Neurologia 39, 548–554.Google ScholarPubMed
Gillaspy, S. R., Hoff, A. L., Mullins, L. L., van Pelt, J. C. & Chaney, J. M. (2002). Psychological distress in high-risk youth with asthma. Journal of Pediatrics and Psychology 27, 363–371.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glassman, A. H., Bigger, J. T., Gaffney, M., Shapiro, P. A. & Swenson, J. R. (2006). Onset of major depression associated with acute coronary syndromes: relationship of onset, major depressive disorder history, and episode severity to sertraline benefit. Archives of General Psychiatry 63, 283–288.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, D. (1978). Manual of the General Health Questionnaire. NFER: Windsor.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P. (1972). The Detection of Psychiatric Illness by Questionnaire: A Technique for the Identification and Assessment of Non-psychotic Psychiatric Illness. Oxford University Press: London.Google Scholar
Goodwin, R. D., Fergusson, D. M. & Horwood, L. J. (2004). Asthma and depressive and anxiety disorders: results of a 21-year longitudinal study. Psychological Medicine 34, 1465–1474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hales, C. N., Barker, D. J., Clark, P. M., Cox, L. J., Fall, C., Osmond, C. & Winter, P. D. (1991). Fetal and infant growth and impaired glucose tolerance at age 64. British Medical Journal 303, 1019–1022.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hardy, J. B. (2003). The Collaborative Perinatal Project: lessons and legacy. Annals of Epidemiology 13, 303–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardy, J. B., Astone, N. M., Brooks-Gunn, J., Shapiro, S. & Miller, T. L. (1998). Like mother, like child: intergenerational patterns of age at first birth and associations with childhood and adolescent characteristics and adult outcomes in the second generation. Developmental Psychology 34, 1269–1273.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hardy, J. B., Shapiro, S., Mellits, D., Skinner, E. A., Astone, N. M., Ensminger, M., Laveist, T., Baumgardner, R. A. & Starfield, B. H. (1997). Self-sufficiency at age 27 to 33 years: factors present between birth and 18 years that predict educational attainment among children born to inner-city families. Pediatrics 99, 80–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hays, R. D. (1998). Rand Health Status Inventory. The Psychological Corporation/Harcourt Brace & Company: Orlando.Google Scholar
Heim, C. & Nemeroff, C. B. (2001). The role of childhood trauma in the neurobiology of mood and anxiety disorders: preclinical and clinical studies. Biological Psychiatry 49, 1023–1039.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hulshoff Pol, H. E., Hoek, H. W., Susser, E., Brown, A. S., Dingemans, A., Schnack, H. G., van Haren, N. E., Pereira Ramos, L. M., Gispen-de Wied, C. C. & Kahn, R. S. (2000). Prenatal exposure to famine and brain morphology in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 157, 1170–1172.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hurwiz, E. L. & Morgenstern, H. (1999). Cross-sectional associations of asthma, hay fever, and other allergies with major depression and low-back pain among adults aged 20–39 years in the United States. American Journal of Epidemiology 150, 1107–1116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huxley, R., Neil, A. & Collins, R. (2002). Unraveling the fetal origins hypothesis: is there really an inverse association between birthweight and subsequent blood pressure? Lancet 360, 659–665.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jones, C. A., Feeny, D. & Eng, K. (2005). Test–retest reliability of Health Utilities Index scores: evidence from hip fracture. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care 21, 393–398.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Katz, R., Stephen, J., Shaw, B. F., Matthew, A., Newman, F. & Rosenbluth, M. (1995). The East York Health Needs Study: prevalence of DSM-III-R psychiatric disorder in a sample of Canadian women. British Journal of Psychiatry 166, 100–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kramer, R. A., Warner, V., Olfson, M., Banks, C. M., Chaput, F. & Weissman, M. M. (1998). General medical problems among the offspring of depressed parents: a 10-year follow-up. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 37, 1–9.Google Scholar
Lee, S., Yu, H., Wing, Y., Chen, C., Lee, A. M., Lee, D. T. S., Chen, C., Lin, K. & Weiss, M. G. (2000). Psychiatric morbidity and illness experience of primary care patients with chronic fatigue in Hong Kong. American Journal of Psychiatry 157, 380–384.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lemons, J. A., Schreiner, R. I. & Grashum, E. L. (1981). Relationship of brain weight to head circumference in early infancy. Human Biology 53, 351–354.Google ScholarPubMed
Leon, D. A., Litchell, H. O. & Vegero, D. (1998). Reduced fetal growth rate and increased risk of death from ischaemic heart disease: cohort study of 15000 Swedish men and women born 1915–1929. British Medical Journal 317, 241–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liao, Y., Tucker, P., Okoro, C. A., Giles, W. H., Mokdad, A. H. & Harris, V. B. (2004). REACH 2010 surveillance for health status in minority communities: United States, 2001–2002. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Surveillance Summaries 53, 1–36.Google ScholarPubMed
Mainous, A. G., King, D. E., Garr, D. R. & Pearson, W. S. (2004). Race, rural residence, and control of diabetes and hypertension. Annals of Family Medicine 2, 563–568.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meaney, M. J. (2001). Maternal care, gene expression, and the transmission of individual differences in stress reactivity across generations. Annual Review of Neuroscience 24, 1161–1192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mensah, G. A., Mokdad, A. H., Ford, E. S., Greenlund, K. J. & Croft, J. B. (2005). State of disparities in cardiovascular health in the United States. Epidemiology 111, 1233–1241.Google ScholarPubMed
Musselman, D. L., Evans, D. L. & Nemeroff, C. B. (1998). The relationship of depression to cardiovascular disease. Archives of General Psychiatry 55, 580–592.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nichols, P. L. & Chen, T. C. (1981). Minimal Brain Dysfunction: A Prospective Study. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Hillsdale, NJ.Google Scholar
Nomura, Y., Wickramaratne, P. J., Pilowsky, D. J., Bruder, B., Newcorn, J. H., Fifer, W. P., Brooks-Gunn, J. & Weissman, M. M. (in press). Low birth weight and risk of affective disorders and selected medical illness in offspring at high and low risk for depression. Comprehensive Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Norusis, M. (2004). SPSS 13.0 Statistical Procedures Companion. Prentice Hall, Inc.: Upper Saddle-River, NJ.Google Scholar
Ortega, A. N., McQuaid, E. L., Canino, G., Goodwin, R. D. & Fritz, G. K. (2004). Comorbidity of asthma and anxiety and depression in Puerto Rican children. Psychosomatics 45, 93–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patton, G. C., Coffey, C., Carlin, J. B., Olsson, C. A. & Morley, R. (2004). Prematurity at birth and adolescent depressive disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry 184, 446–447.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rimington, L. D., Davies, D. H., Lowe, D., Pearson, M. G., Russo, C. A., Andrew, R. M. & Coffey, R. M. (2001). Relationship between anxiety, depression and morbidity in adult asthma patients. Thorax 56, 266–271.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Russo, C. A., Andrews, R. M. & Coffey, R. M. (2006). Racial and ethnic disparities in potentially preventable hospitalizations, 2003. Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project 10, 1–9.Google Scholar
Sanchez, M. M., Ladd, C. O. & Plotsky, P. M. (2001). Early adverse experience as developmental risk factor for late psychopathology: evidence from rodent and primate models. Developmental Psychopathology 13, 419–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandman, C. A., Wadhwa, P. D., Chicz-DeMet, A., Porto, M. & Garite, T. J. (1998). Maternal corticotropin-releasing hormone and habituation in the human fetus. Developmental Psychobiology 34, 163–173.3.0.CO;2-9>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thoma, A., Sprague, S., Veltr, K., Duku, E. & Furlong, W. (2005). Methodology and measurement properties of health-related quality of life instruments: a prospective study of patients undergoing breast reduction surgery. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 3, 44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson, C., Syddall, H., Rodin, I., Osmond, C. & Barker, D. J. (2001). Birth weight and the risk of depressive disorder in later life. British Journal of Psychiatry 179, 450–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
US DHHS (1993). Social Security Bulletin. Annual Statistical Supplement, 1993, pp. 346–348. US Department of Health and Human Services: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Vaag, A., Jensen, C. B., Poulsen, P., Brons, C., Pilgaard, K., Grunnet, L., Vielwerth, S. & Alibegovic, A. (2006). Metabolic aspects of insulin resistance in individuals born small for gestational age. Hormone Research 65, s137–s43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Melle, J. P., de Jonge, P., Spijkerman, T. A., Tijssen, J. G., Ormel, J., van Veldhuisen, D. J., van den Brink, R. H. & van den Berg, M. P. (2004). Prognostic association of depression following myocardial infarction with mortality and cardiovascular events: a meta-analysis. Psychosomatic Medicine 66, 814–822.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Veening, M. A., Van Weissenbruch, M. M. & Delemarre-Van De Waal, H. A. (2002). Glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, and insulin secretion in children born small for gestational age. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 87, 4657–4661.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vila, G., Nollet-Clemencon, C., de Blic, J., Mouren-Simeoni, M. C. & Scheinmann, P. (2000). Prevalence of DSM IV anxiety and affective disorders in a pediatric population of asthmatic children and adolescents. Journal of Affective Disorders 58, 223–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wadhwa, P. D., Porto, M., Garite, T. J., Chicz-DeMet, A. & Sandman, C. A. (1998). Maternal corticotropin-releasing hormone levels in the early third trimester predict length of gestation in human pregnancy. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 179, 1079–1085.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wadhwa, P. D., Sandman, C. A. & Garite, T. J. (2001). The neurobiology of stress in human pregnancy: implications for prematurity and development of the fetal central nervous system. Progress in Brain Research 133, 131–142.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wamboldt, M. Z., Hewitt, J. K., Schmitz, S., Wamboldt, F. S., Rasanen, M., Koskenvuo, M., Romanav, K., Varjonen, J. & Kaprio, J. (2000). Familial association between allergic disorders and depression in adult Finnish twins. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 96, 146–153.3.0.CO;2-J>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ward, A. J. (1991). Prenatal stress and childhood psychopathology. Child Psychiatry and Human Development 22, 97–110.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weissman, M. M., Wickramaratne, P. J., Nomura, Y., Warner, V., Pilowsky, D. J. & Vedeli, H. (2006). Offspring of depressed parents: 20 years later. American Journal of Psychiatry 163, 1001–1008.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wells, K. B., Golding, J. M. & Burnam, M. A. (1988). Psychiatric disorder in a sample of the general population with and without chronic medical conditions. American Journal of Psychiatry 145, 976–981.Google Scholar
Wiles, N. J., Peters, T. J., Leon, D. A. & Lewis, G. (2005). Birth weight and psychological distress at age 45–51 years. British Journal of Psychiatry 187, 21–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed