Lower Birth Weight Babies Prone to Depression

This is an interesting study. Who would think that smaller babies would be more prone to depression than regular weight ones. But I'm not sure from the data available to the researchers, whether they know whether it is pre-term as well as full-term low birth weight or only the full-term low birth weight that may cause depression later in life.

From The Epoch Times, December 6 - 12, 2007, page A3:

SMALLER BABIES PRONE TO DEPRESSION, STUDY FINDS

Washington (Reuters) - Plump babies may really be happier babies, Canadian and British researchers reported on Monday in a study that found people who had a low birth weight were more likely to have depression and anxiety later in life.

Adverse conditions in the womb that interfere with a baby's growth may also cause brain differences, the researchers report in the December issue of Biological Psychiatry.

Ian Colman of the University of Alberta and colleagues in Britain, studied the records of 4,600 Britons born in 1946, who took part in a 40-year study.

"We found that even people who had just mild or moderate symptoms of depression or anxiety over their life course were smaller babies than those who had better mental health," Colman said in a statement.

"It suggests a dose-response relationship. As birth weight progressively decreases, it's more likely that an individual will suffer from mood disorders later in life."

The researchers simply looked at medical records and did not examine a possible cause. Colman said it is possible that when mothers are stressed, stress hormones are passing through the placenta to the fetus.

Not all small babies are fated to have poor mental health, the researchers said, noting that in 1946 records did not indicate whether the children were born prematurely.