Saturday, January 3, 2009

Preemies face some risk of psychiatric disorders

Results of a Swedish population-wide study hint that children born prematurely have some risk of developing anxiety, depression or other psychiatric disorder in adolescence and young adulthood.

Children born "preterm" should therefore be watched more closely for these disorders, the investigators suggest.

Among 545,628 Swedish residents born in the 1970s and followed up until 23 to 29 years of age, Dr. Karolina Lindstrom from Sachs Children's Hospital, Stockholm, and colleagues observed a stepwise increase in psychiatric hospital admissions with an increasing degree of preterm birth.

READ MORE @ REUTERS