The British Journal of Psychiatry (2009) 195: 100-101. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.109.062828
© 2009 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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EDITORIALS

Do prenatal risk factors cause psychiatric disorder? Be wary of causal claims

Anita Thapar, PhD, FRCPsych

Department of Psychological Medicine, School of Medicine, Cardiff University

Michael Rutter, MD, FRCPsych, FRCP, FRS, FMedSci

MRC SGDP Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK

Correspondence: Anita Thapar, Department of Psychological Medicine and Neurology, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4XN, UK. Email: thapar{at}cf.ac.uk

Declaration of interest

None.

Anita Thapar (pictured) is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Cardiff University and an honorary consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist with Cwm Taf NHS CAMHS Network. Michael Rutter is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.

Funding

We thank the Wellcome Trust for funding research that led to this editorial.

Many prenatal risk factors are known to have adverse consequences on fetal development and there is increasing interest in effects on the mental health of offspring. However, associations with prenatal risk factors may arise because of postnatal risk or through confounders, including inherited ones. As a result, caution is required in assuming causation.


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