TUESDAY, Dec. 19, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Maternal inflammation risk factors during pregnancy may be associated with later dysregulation in children, according to a study published online in the December issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Jean A. Frazier, M.D., from UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, and colleagues examined the relationship between perinatal factors and emotional, cognitive, and behavioral dysregulation in youth. The analysis included 18 cohorts that had both Child Behavior Checklist data (4,595 youth 6 to 18 years) and information on perinatal exposures including maternal prenatal infections.

The researchers found that 13.4 percent of youth met criteria for the Child Behavior Checklist-Dysregulation Profile (CBCL-DP), with a greater effect among boys than girls (15.1 versus 11.5 percent). Compared with youth without CBCL-DP, more youth with CBCL-DP were born to mothers with prenatal infections (28 versus 35 percent). There were significant associations with dysregulation for having a first-degree relative with a psychiatric disorder and being born to a mother with lower educational attainment, who was obese, who had any prenatal infection, and/or who smoked tobacco during pregnancy.

“In this large study, a few modifiable maternal risk factors with established roles in inflammation (maternal lower education, obesity, prenatal infections, and smoking) were strongly associated with CBCL-DP and could be targets for interventions to improve behavioral outcomes of offspring,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to industry.

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