Mental disorders could begin as early as pregnancy. Researchers have identified certain risk factors that affect the development of the child’s brain before birth. Explanations.
- In France, 600,000 people suffer from schizophrenia.
- 3-5% of the school population has ADHD.
Low birth weight, lack of oxygen supply, maternal high blood pressure and prematurity are risk factors for the development of mental disorders in unborn children, according to a recent study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry. During their work, scientists from the CHU Sainte-Justine and the University of Montreal more specifically studied two mental disorders: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and schizophrenia. As a reminder, ADHD is characterized by attention deficit, motor hyperactivity and impulsivity which appear during childhood and schizophrenia generally manifests later, during adolescence between 15 and 25 years old by social withdrawal, cognitive difficulties , hallucinations or delusions.
Determining Vulnerability to Mental Disorders in Pregnancy
During their work, the researchers started from the postulate that the brain of the fetus could already contain information on the future mental health of the child. Their objective was to determine whether risk factors could influence the development of mental disorders, by acting during pregnancy on brain development. In most mental disorders, the cerebral cortex, also called the gray matter or outer layer of the brain, is impacted. This change occurs during growth.
To conduct their study, the scientists therefore analyzed imaging data from more than 27,000 people. Thus, they were able to compare the differences in surface area between the cerebral cortices of patients with mental disorders and those without. According to them, cerebral modifications appear well from pregnancy, in particular at the level of the association cortex, a cerebral zone in charge of the complex operations of information processing. It is these changes that may explain the development of mental disorders, including ADHD and schizophrenia.
Risk factors identified
On the other hand, they also succeeded in identifying certain risk factors for the development of these mental disorders. Thus, they believe that low birth weight, lack of oxygen supply, being born prematurely or high blood pressure (HTA) of the mother when she is pregnant could promote the development of mental illnesses. .
“The comprehensive understanding of how perinatal risks can interfere with different cellular and molecular mechanisms will ultimately allow new avenues of treatment to be explored,” conclude the researchers.
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