Birth environment could hint for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Birth environment could hint for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder:- According to a Swedish study, circumstances during birth could be the reason for the development of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD in children during adolescence or early adulthood.
The study also found that Caesarean section delivery, pre-term birth, breach presentation at labour, smoking during pregnancy or high or low weight at birth could increase the risk of obsessive compulsive disorder.
Dr. James Leckmansaid, “Children who were born prematurely and to mothers who experienced serious problems with labour and delivery were at increased risk to develop OCD many, many years later.” Leckman who is a psychiatry researcher at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut added at OCD is one of the most inherited psychiatric disorders yet no one gene is particularly responsible.
During the study, Researchers examined data of 2.4 million Swedish children born from 1973 to 1996 and diagnosed 17,000 people with OCD, with an average age of 23 years. Researchers also found out 11,500 families with siblings having one child with OCD and one without the diagnosis.
Leckmanalso added “These findings have real public health significance”. “This is especially true of the increased risk associated with heavy maternal smoking during pregnancy, but it is also clear that as a society we need to make sure that all mothers and new-borns have optimal medical care.”
According to a researchers report in JAMA Psychiatry, the risk of OCD in a child is increased by 27 percent if the mother smokes at least 10 cigarettes a day during pregnancy. Also, breech babies who are born with feet down instead of head down in the uterus have increased risk of OCD by 35 percent.
The risk associated with caesarean deliveries is 17 percent.The overall study suggests that the more of prenatal risk factors one has survived, the more risk he/she has of developing OCD. Although, the factors are still unknown.
