A study confirms that children born to mothers who are anxious during pregnancy are more at risk of developing attention and hyperactivity disorders before adolescence.
This is a reflection often heard from seniors. Many future grandmothers advise their daughters not to worry during their pregnancy because this could have consequences for their child. The researchers share this point of view and back it up scientifically: a recent study confirms that when a pregnant woman suffers from somatic anxiety, her child runs the risk of suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) before reaching the age of 16.
A child health project
This study was conducted in association with ALSPAC (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children) which is a child health project based in Bristol, UK. From the observation of the evolution of the health of children over time, the researchers analyzed the reports of 8727 mothers who complained of tremors, sweating, insomnia, dizziness during pregnancy and some years after pregnancy.
28% of women suffered from anxiety
According to the study, about 28% of women had moderate or high anxiety during their pregnancy. The researchers observed the total of 3,199 children born from these pregnancies experienced with anguish, all of whom showed mild signs of hyperactivity. But 224 of them showed twice as many signs of hyperactivity: these are the ones whose mothers had had the highest level of anxiety during their pregnancy.
However, for the researchers, this does not reflect the reality of the link between the anxiety of the mother and the hyperactivity of the child: they underline the importance of other influences such as the biological, genetic or environmental effects which can be held responsible for these disorders in children.
The first study showing this link
Blanca Bolea, assistant professor, University of Toronto, Canada, says however that this is the first time that a study has shown that anxiety is linked to hyperactivity in a child: “Not all ADHD-related symptoms are related to maternal anxiety, but some of them are related to maternal anxiety levels during pregnancy,” she says.
.
