Extreme Stress During Pregnancy May Result to Child's Schizophenia

Filed in archive First Trimester , Medical Issues on August 26, 2008

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A recent study indicates that mothers who experience extreme stress during pregnancy are more likely to give birth to children who develop schizophrenia. We're not talking of day-to-day stresses that feels a bit more aggravating because of hormonal and bodily changes. This study refers to women who experience something comparable to a natural disaster such as an earthquake or hurricane, a terrorist attack, or a sudden bereavement.

Malaspina and her colleagues looked at birth data for 88,829 people born in Jerusalem from 1964 to 1976 and cross-referenced it with Israel's national psychiatry registry.

They found that the offspring of women who were in their second month of pregnancy during the height of the Arab-Israel war in June of 1967 - also known as the "Six Day War" - showed a significantly higher rate of schizophrenia as they entered adulthood.

These observations also confirm an earlier report on the effect of bereavement during pregnancy and on the likelihood that the child will develop schizophrenia.

A total of 7,331 schizophrenia cases were identified among Danes born between 1973 and 1995 over at least two decades of follow-up.

Being born to a mother who had a close relative die during her first trimester was found to be associated with a 67% increased risk for schizophrenia.

Clearly, the maternal psychological state, particularly durign the first trimester, has a grave impact on the mental health of her baby.