Smaller babies more prone to depression, anxiety later on

Well, it might turn out that plump babies are happy babies indeed as said by popular wisdeom, according to the December 2007 issue of Biological Psychiatry. A landmark public health study has found that people who had a low birth weight are more likely to experience depression and anxiety later in life.

The survey tracked more than 4,600 people born in Great Britain in 1946 for symptoms of anxiety and depression over a 40-year period which also represent an important chapter that conditions in the womb do indeed have an effect on our future development aka the “nature versus nurture” debate.

The theory : Blood flow to the uterus is restricted when a mother is stressed and the fetus gets fewer nutrients, which tends to lead to lower birth weight. In addition, stress hormones are passing through the placenta to the fetus and may affect the fetus’s neurodevelopment and stress response.

Notable strengths of this study include the nationally representative sample, the sample size, and the long follow-up with the members of the 1946 cohort, whose [tag-tec] anxiety and depression[/tag-tec] symptoms were measured at 13, 15, 36, 43 and 53 years of age.

“The idea that things that are happening in the womb might predict your health much later on in life is absolutely fascinating. And the public health implications of that are huge,” said Colman. “I have been asked by many people what the ‘take-home message’ of this study is, and I would say that, in the simplest terms, it is ‘We should take better care of pregnant women.’ The kind of stress that pregnant mothers are under has a significant long-term effect on the developing fetus.”

Via Eurekalert

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