New Research Suggests Preterm Babies Born Before 29 Weeks Of Pregnancy Have A Higher Risk Of Developing Panic Disorder Later In Life
According to a new study, babies born before the 29th week of pregnancy have a much greater risk of developing panic disorder later in life. Panic disorder was present in two to four percent of individuals who participated in the study.
Typically, a human pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks. A baby born before the 37th week of pregnancy is considered a premature birth.
There are several reasons a premature birth might occur, including infections, carrying multiple babies at once, or issues with the placenta.
Health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, or a history of preterm birth can also increase the risk of prematurity.
When a baby is born prematurely, they may experience difficulty with breathing and feeding because their organs are underdeveloped.
Premature birth comes with long-term health risks as well, including developmental delays, learning challenges, vision/hearing problems, and other issues.
It is estimated that 15 million babies all over the world are born prematurely every year. They make up about 11 percent of all births.
A team of researchers wanted to see if prematurely born individuals were more likely to develop anxiety and panic disorders than those carried to full term.
They hypothesized that prematurely born individuals would have higher rates of panic disorder later in life due to the stress they experienced at birth and the prolonged medical care that was required to stabilize their condition.
Monkey Business – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual people
The researchers examined data from the Gutenberg Prematurity Study that was conducted by the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz in Germany.
There was data from 40,189 newborns born between 1969 and 2002. They were all adults aged between 18 and 52 at the time of analysis.
The research team selected 427 participants from the group. They collected medical history data from each participant and assessed the presence of panic disorder using the Patient Health Questionnaire.
The participants were categorized by gestational age at birth: full-term (born after at least 37 weeks of pregnancy), moderately preterm (born between 33 and 36 weeks), very preterm (born between 29 and 32 weeks), and extremely preterm (born before the 29th week of pregnancy).
The results revealed that 4.2 percent of participants met the criteria for panic disorder. For individuals born after the 29th week of pregnancy, the prevalence of panic disorder ranged from two to four percent. But among those born before the 29th week, 14 percent had panic disorder.
Those with the disorder were more likely to be female, unemployed, and have lower levels of education.
In addition, they spent longer in intensive care and an incubator. They also had higher amounts of carbon dioxide in their blood after birth, which meant they had difficulty breathing or poor lung function.
When the researchers adjusted for the length of time spent in intensive care, the association between preterm birth and panic disorder was eliminated.
The finding suggests that postnatal intensive care might be very important for mental health later in life.
The study was published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
More About:News