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

doi:10.1136/bmj.325.7367.749

BMJ 2002;325:749 ( 5 October )

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

Y B Cheung, biostatistician, ^a K S Khoo, head, ^b J Karlberg, director, ^c D Machin, professor. ^d

^a Division of Clinical Trials and Epidemiological Sciences, National Cancer Centre, Singapore 169610, ^b Department of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Centre, Singapore, ^c Clinical Trials Centre, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China, ^d Clinical Trials Research Unit, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S5 7AU

Correspondence to: Y B Cheung ctecyb{at}nccs.com.sg

Objectives: To test the hypothesis that birth weight forgestational age and weight gain in early childhood have a longterm association with psychological distress inadults.
Design: Longitudinal study of 1958 birth cohort followedto age 42years.
Setting: Population based birth cohortstudy.
Participants: 9731 cohort members with valid perinatal,postnatal, and adultdata.
Main outcome measures: Malaise inventory scores measured at ages23, 33, and 42 years. Generalised estimating equations approachused to analyse repeatedmeasures.
Results: Psychological distress score was inverselyrelated to birthweight z score and weight gain from birth to theage of 7 years. A unit increase in birthweight z score or childhoodweight gain was associated with a mean reduction in psychologicaldistress score of 0.10 (95% confidence interval 0.05 to 0.15)and 0.06 (0.02 to 0.10), respectively. Birth weight and weightgain were also inversely related to the odds of having a highlevel of psychological distress, with odds ratios being 0.90 (0.85to 0.95) and 0.93 (0.89 to 0.98),respectively.
Conclusions: Psychological health in adults is relatedto fetal growth and growth in earlychildhood.

What is already known on this topic
Psychological outcomes in children are related to fetal growth and postnatal growth

Size at birth is also associated with psychological outcomes in adolescents and young adults

What this study adds
Both birthweight z score and weight gain in early childhood are associated with psychological distress at ages 23 to 42

The impact of a smaller size at birth may be compensated for by a higher postnatal weight gain

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