An Association of ADHD and Their Risk Factors in Pregnancy, Delivery, Perinatal Stage

Hong, Young Min; Oh, Eun Young

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Many researchers reported that obstetrical complications during late pregnancy or delivery may be related to major psychiatric illnesses, especially schizophrenia. We hypothesized that obstetrical complications are among the most important factors which precipitate onset of attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder. We studied retrospectively obstetrical complications of the Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) patients who were diagnosed and treated at the outpatient and inpatient clinics of Ajou University Hospital. METHOD: The subjects were composed of 94 ADHD patients who were diagnosed by DSM-IV and 65 normal subjects. ADHD patients were divided into two groups; the familial group (n=27) consisted of those who have a family history of ADHD, and the non-familial group(n=65) consisted of those without a family history of ADHD. The authors examined gestational age, birth weight, type of delivery, and type of obstetrical complications. Obstetrical complications were divided into maternal, intrapartal and neonatal factors.
RESULTS
1) Non-familial ADHD patients have significantly higher NSVD(normal spont-aneous vaginal delivery) than normal controls. 2) Familial ADHD patients have significantly higher intrapartal obstetrical complications than normal controls. 3) ADHD patients have no significantly higher maternal and neonatal complications than normal controls.
CONCLUSION
This study suggests that obstetrical complications are related to the onset of ADHD, possibly when combined with genetic predispositions.