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. 2002 Oct 5;325(7367):749.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.325.7367.749.

Association between psychological symptoms in adults and growth in early life: longitudinal follow up study

Y B Cheung  1 , K S Khoo, J Karlberg, D Machin
Affiliations

Association between psychological symptoms in adults and growth in early life: longitudinal follow up study

Y B Cheung et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Objectives: To test the hypothesis that birth weight for gestational age and weight gain in early childhood have a long term association with psychological distress in adults.

Design: Longitudinal study of 1958 birth cohort followed to age 42 years.

Setting: Population based birth cohort study.

Participants: 9731 cohort members with valid perinatal, postnatal, and adult data.

Main outcome measures: Malaise inventory scores measured at ages 23, 33, and 42 years. Generalised estimating equations approach used to analyse repeated measures.

Results: Psychological distress score was inversely related to birthweight z score and weight gain from birth to the age of 7 years. A unit increase in birthweight z score or childhood weight gain was associated with a mean reduction in psychological distress score of 0.10 (95% confidence interval 0.05 to 0.15) and 0.06 (0.02 to 0.10), respectively. Birth weight and weight gain were also inversely related to the odds of having a high level of psychological distress, with odds ratios being 0.90 (0.85 to 0.95) and 0.93 (0.89 to 0.98), respectively.

Conclusions: Psychological health in adults is related to fetal growth and growth in early childhood.

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