Search

Background: Preliminary evidence suggests that prenatal testosterone exposure may be associated with language delay. However, no study has examined a large sample of children at multiple time-points. Methods: Umbilical cord blood samples were obtained at 861 births and analysed for bioavailable testosterone (BioT) concentrations. When participating offspring were 1, 2 and 3 years of age, parents of 767 children (males = 395; females = 372) completed the Infant Monitoring Questionnaire (IMQ), which measures Communication, Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Adaptive and Personal-Social development. Cut-off scores are available for each scale at each age to identify children with 'clinically significant' developmental delays. Chi-square analyses and generalized estimating equations examined longitudinal associations between sex-specific quartiles of BioT concentrations and the rate of developmental delay. Results: Significantly more males than females had language delay (Communication scale) at age 1, 2 and 3 years ( p-values ≤. 01). Males were also more likely to be classified as delayed on the Fine-Motor ( p = .04) and Personal-Social ( p < .01) scales at age 3 years. Chi-square analyses found a significant difference between BioT quartiles in the rate of language delay (but not Fine-Motor and Personal-Social delay) for males (age 3) and females (age 1 and 3). Generalized estimating equations, incorporating a range of sociodemographic and obstetric variables, found that males in the highest BioT quartile were at increased risk for a clinically significant language delay during the first 3 years of life, with an odds ratio (OR) of 2.47 (95% CI: 1.12, 5.47). By contrast, increasing levels of BioT reduced the risk of language delay among females (Quartile 2: OR = 0.23, 95% CI: 0.09, 0.59; Quartile 4: 0.46, 95% CI: 0.21, 0.99). Conclusion: These data suggest that high prenatal testosterone levels are a risk factor for language delay in males, but may be a protective factor for females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Methodological challenges such as confounding have made the study of the early determinants of mental health morbidity problematic. This study aims to address these challenges in investigating antenatal, perinatal and postnatal risk factors for the development of mental health problems in pre-school children in a cohort of Western Australian children. Methods: The Raine Study is a prospective cohort study of 2,868 live born children involving 2,979 pregnant women recruited at 18 weeks gestation. Children were followed up at age two and five years. The Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) was used to measure child mental health with clinical cut-points, including internalising (withdrawn/depressed) and externalising (aggressive/destructive) behaviours ( n = 1707). Results: Multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that the significant risk factors for behaviour problems at age two were the maternal experience of multiple stress events in pregnancy (OR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.06, 1.37), smoking during pregnancy (OR = 1.30, 95% CI = 1.06, 1.59) and maternal ethnicity (OR = 3.34, 95% CI = 1.61, 6.96). At age five the experience of multiple stress events (OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.08, 1.27), cigarette smoking (OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.37), male gender (OR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.02, 2.00), breastfeeding for a shorter time (OR = .97, 95% CI = .94, .99) and multiple baby blues symptoms (OR = 1.08, 95% CI = 1.02, 1.14) were significant predictors of mental health problems. Conclusions: Early childhood mental health is significantly affected by prenatal events in addition to the child’s later environment. Interventions targeting adverse prenatal, perinatal and postnatal influences can be expected to improve mental health outcomes for children in the early years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]