Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-94d59 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T07:04:53.324Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Association of measures of fetal and childhood growth with non-clinical psychotic symptoms in 12-year-olds: the ALSPAC cohort

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

K. Thomas
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol
G. Harrison
Affiliation:
Academic Unit of Psychiatry, University of Bristol
S. Zammit
Affiliation:
Academic Unit of Psychiatry, University of Bristol, and Department of Psychological Medicine, Cardiff University
G. Lewis
Affiliation:
Academic Unit of Psychiatry, University of Bristol
J. Horwood
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol
J. Heron
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol
C. Hollis
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, University of Nottingham
D. Wolke
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Warwick
A. Thompson
Affiliation:
Academic Unit of Psychiatry, University of Bristol
D. Gunnell*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, UK
*
David Gunnell, Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, 39 Whatley Road, Bristol BS8 2PS, UK. Email: D.J.Gunnell@bristol.ac.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Background

Previous studies have suggested that impaired fetal and childhood growth are associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia, but the association of pre-adult growth with non-clinical psychotic symptoms (psychosis-like symptoms) in children is not known.

Aims

To explore the associations of body size at birth and age 7.5 years with childhood psychosis-like symptoms.

Method

Prospective cohort of children followed up from birth to age 12: the ALSPAC cohort.

Results

Data on 6000 singleton infants born after 37 weeks of gestation. A one standard deviation increase in birth weight was associated with an 18% reduction in the risk of definite psychosis-like symptoms after adjusting for age and gestation (Odds ratio (OR) = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.73–0.92, P = 0.001). This association was partly confounded by maternal anthropometry, smoking during pregnancy, socioeconomic status and IQ. A similar association was seen for birth length and psychosis-like symptoms, which disappeared after controlling for birth weight. There was little evidence for an association of 7-year height or adiposity with psychosis-like symptoms.

Conclusions

Measures of impaired fetal, but not childhood, growth are associated with an increased risk of psychosis-like symptoms in 12-year-olds.

Type
Papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NC
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2009

Footnotes

The UK Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust and the University of Bristol provide core support for ALSPAC. This research was funded by the Wellcome Trust; grant no. 072043

Declaration of interest

None.

References

1 Poulton, R, Caspi, A, Moffitt, TE, Cannon, M, Murray, R, Harrington, H. Children's self-reported psychotic symptoms and adult schizophreniform disorder: a 15-year longitudinal study. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2000; 57: 1053–8.Google Scholar
2 Johns, LC, Cannon, M, Singleton, N, Murray, RM, Farrell, M, Brugha, T, et al. Prevalence and correlates of self-reported psychotic symptoms in the British population. Br J Psychiatry 2004; 185: 298305.Google Scholar
3 Van Os, J, Hanssen, M, Bijl, RV, Vollebergh, W. Prevalence of psychotic disorder and community level of psychotic symptoms: an urban–rural comparison. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2001; 58: 663–8.Google Scholar
4 Hanssen, M, Bak, M, Bijl, R, Vollebergh, W, van, OJ. The incidence and outcome of subclinical psychotic experiences in the general population. Br J Clin Psychol 2005; 44: 181–91.Google Scholar
5 Horwood, J, Salvi, G, Thomas, K, Duffy, L, Gunnell, D, Hollis, C, et al. IQ and nonclinical psychotic symptoms in 12-year-olds: results from the ALSPAC birth cohort. Br J Psychiatry 2008; 193: 185–91.Google Scholar
6 Cannon, M, Caspi, A, Moffitt, TE, Harrington, H, Taylor, A, Murray, RM, et al. Evidence for early-childhood, pan-developmental impairment specific to schizophreniform disorder: results from a longitudinal birth cohort. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2002; 59: 449–56.Google Scholar
7 Gunnell, D, Harrison, G, Whitley, E, Lewis, G, Tynelius, P, Rasmussen, F. The association of fetal and childhood growth with risk of schizophrenia. Cohort study of 720,000 Swedish men and women. Schizophr Res 2005; 79: 315–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8 Wahlbeck, K, Forsen, T, Osmond, C, Barker, DJ, Eriksson, JG. Association of schizophrenia with low maternal body mass index, small size at birth, and thinness during childhood. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2001; 58: 4852.Google Scholar
9 Cannon, M, Jones, PB, Murray, RM. Obstetric complications and schizophrenia: an historical and meta-analytic review. Am J Psychiatry 2002; 159: 1080–92.Google Scholar
10 Weinberger, DR. Implications of normal brain development for the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1987; 44: 660–9.Google Scholar
11 Golding, J, Pembrey, M, Jones, R, ALSPAC study team. ALSPAC – the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. I. Study methodology. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiology 2001; 15: 7487.Google Scholar
12 American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edn) (DSM–IV). APA, 1994.Google Scholar
13 World Health Organization. International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD–10) (2nd edn). WHO, 2005.Google Scholar
14 Cameron, N. The methods of auxological anthropometry. In Human Growth. A Comprehensive Treatise (3rd edn) (ed Falkner, F): 346. Plenum Press, 1986.Google Scholar
15 Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. Standard Occupational Classification. HMSO, 1991.Google Scholar
16 Wechsler, D, Golombok, S, Rust, J. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (3rd edn) (WISC–III–UK). Psychological Corporation, 1992.Google Scholar
17 Richards, M, Hardy, R, Kuh, D, Wadsworth, ME. Birth weight and cognitive function in the British 1946 birth cohort: longitudinal population based study. BMJ 2001; 322: 199203.Google Scholar
18 David, AS, Malmberg, A, Brandt, L, Allebeck, P, Lewis, G. IQ and risk for schizophrenia: a population-based cohort study. Psychol Med 1997; 27: 1311–23.Google Scholar
19 Gunnell, D, Harrison, G, Rasmussen, F, Fouskakis, D, Tynelius, P. Associations between premorbid intellectual performance, early-life exposures and earlyonset schizophrenia. Cohort study. Br J Psychiatry 2003; 181: 298305.Google Scholar
20 Phillips, AN, Davey Smith, G. How independent are ‘independent’ effects? Relative risk estimation when correlated exposures are measured imprecisely. J Clin Epidemiol 1991; 44: 1223–31.Google Scholar
21 Callaway, LK, McIntyre, HD, O'Callaghan, M, Williams, GM, Najman, JM, Lawlor, DA. The association of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy with weight gain over the subsequent 21 years: findings from a prospective cohort study. Am J Epidemiol 2007; 166: 421–8.Google Scholar
22 Plewis, I, Calderwoof, L, Hawkes, D, Nathan, G. National Child Development Study and 1970 British Cohort Study Technical Report: Changes in the NCDS and BCS70 populations and samples over time. Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, 2004.Google Scholar
23 Gillberg, C. Infantile autism and other childhood psychoses in a Swedish urban region. Epidemiological aspects. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 1984; 25: 3543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24 Wiles, NJ, Peters, TJ, Heron, J, Gunnell, D, Emond, A, Lewis, G. Fetal growth and childhood behavioral problems: results from the ALSPAC cohort. Am J Epidemiol 2006; 163: 829–37.Google Scholar
25 Zammit, S, Rasmussen, F, Farahmand, B, Gunnell, D, Lewis, G, Tynelius, P, et al. Height and body mass index in young adulthood and risk of schizophrenia: a longitudinal study of 1 347 520 Swedish men. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2007; 116: 378–85.Google Scholar
26 Weiser, M, Knobler, H, Lubin, G, Nahon, D, Kravitz, E, Caspi, A, et al. Body mass index and future schizophrenia in Israeli male adolescents. J Clin Psychiatry 2004; 65: 1546–9.Google Scholar
27 Harrison, PJ. The neuropathology of schizophrenia. A critical review of the data and their interpretation. Brain 1999; 122: 593624.Google Scholar
28 Zammit, S, Horwood, J, Thompson, A, Thomas, K, Menezes, P, Gunnell, D, et al. Investigating if psychosis-like symptoms (PLIKS) are associated with family history of schizophrenia or paternal age in the ALSPAC birth cohort. Schizophr Res 2008; 104: 279–86.Google Scholar
29 Zammit, S, Odd, D, Horwood, J, Thompson, A, Thomas, K, Menezes, P et al. Investigating whether adverse prenatal and perinatal events are associated with non-clinical psychotic symptoms at age 12 years in the ALSPAC birth cohort. Psychol Med 2009; 12 February: doi: 10.1017/S0033291708005126.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Thomas et al. supplementary material

Supplementary Table S1-S2

Download Thomas et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 45.4 KB
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.