Summary: A significant study in Denmark found that frequent pregnancy diseases like asthma and urinary tract infections do not prevent a child’s brain development or mental powers from developing later in life. More than 270, 000 children’s information was analyzed by experts who compared their academic performance and intelligence test results to maternal infections and antibacterial usage while pregnant.
There were no discernible distinctions between maternal infection exposure and child mental outcomes, according to the researchers. The study also examined sibling groups to verify the same findings, taking into account both genetic and social factors.
Important Information
- No Mental Impact: Pregnancy-related antibiotic use and maternal infections did not correlate with lower academic performance or intelligence.
- Sibling Analysis: Using genetic and environmental factors, comparing relatives improved the results.
- Medical Care Also Important: Even if the risks to pregnancy are little, rapid treatment of infections is crucial to avoid complications.
Origin: Neuroscience News
Expectant parents frequently worry about the possible effects of medications and attacks on the development of their unborn boy’s brains.
However, a significant, global research from Denmark provides comforting information: frequent infections during pregnancy, including asthma, urinary tract infections, and other fungal illnesses, do not seem to have an impact on a child’s mental abilities or academic performance later in life.
Based on extensive data from over 270, 000 babies born between 1996 and 2003, the results, which were published in PLOS Medicine, are based.
Scientists examined intelligence test scores taken during martial conscription for young people as well as Danish and mathematics results from 9th-grade test. They compared the infants whose mothers were rushed to the hospital for pathogens or given antibiotics while pregnant with the other.
Regardless of the pregnancy’s infection’s timing, the results showed no discernible differences in mental or educational outcomes.
Our results support the article’s lead physician’s claim that frequent infections and their treatment with antibiotics do not have a negative impact on maternal mental development.
The group also analyzed information on whole siblings within families to support their opinions, an approach that helps account for expressed genetic and environmental factors like familial education and home environment. No severe effects of maternal infections were found even in these relative comparisons.
The results highlight the value of population-wide registration info, which allowed researchers to examine results from hundreds of thousands of births with accuracy.
Although the results are urging, medical professionals also advise women to not ignore infections during pregnancy. Preterm delivery and other issues can be caused by untreated or serious infections.
These studies support the efficacy of conventional antibiotics during pregnancy, but expectant women should always seek medical attention if they experience infection symptoms, according to the experts.
This study provides much-needed encouragement to pregnant women and healthcare providers likewise, showing that common bacterial infection and the medications used to cure them are not linked to long-lasting mental damage in children. Additionally, it emphasizes the value of rapid diagnosis and treatment to safeguard both maternal and fecund wellbeing.
Funding: With the help of the Lundbeck Foundation and the Health Foundation, the Statens Serum Institut and the Danish Cancer Society collaborated on the research.
About this information about mental development and pregnancy.
Author: Communications for Neuroscience
Source: Neuroscience News
Contact: Neuroscience News Communications – Neuroscience News
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Start access to original research.
Anders Husby and his team’s” Maternal infection during pregnancy and offspring cognitive results: a nationwide full-sibling cohort review.” PLOS Medicine
Abstract
A global full-sibling cohort study of maternal infection during pregnancy and sons cognitive outcomes
Background
Maternal infections are prevalent during pregnancy, but several studies have suggested negative effects on the child’s cognitive development.
We used long-term follow-up of a Danish family group to analyze the impact of maternal infections during gestation on offspring’s academic performance and intelligence check results in adolescence. We used information from community pharmacies, long-term follow-up, and infection data from maternal antifungal prescriptions in community pharmacies.
Strategies and conclusions
We derived a cohort of all full-siblings born on January 1, 1996, December 31, 2002, and linked them to parental prescriptions for antibiotic medications and paternal hospitalizations for pregnancy infections using population-based national registry.
For a nested sub-cohort of full brothers, standardized exam grades in language and mathematics at the end of the compulsory school year were used as outcomes in addition to intelligence test scores ( calculated as IQ ).
In the full-sibling cohort of 274, 166 children, 80, 817 ( 29.5 % ) had a mother who was hospitalized while she was pregnant and who filled a prescription for a systemic antimicrobial, and 5 628 ( 2.1 % ) had a mother who was hospitalized while she was pregnant due to an infection.
When taking into account shared family factors, there was no statistically significant difference between the scores of children whose mothers filled one antibiotic prescription and those whose mothers did not, while numerous associations were constantly significant when never taking shared family factors into account.
However, we found no evidence of an effect of paternal in-patient hospitalizations for infections during pregnancy on school grades (z-score difference for language, −0.0, 95 % CI]−0.1, 0.0],  , p = 0.103, z-score difference for mathematics, 0.0, 95 % CI]−0.0, 0.0],  , p = 0.809 ) or IQ ( IQ-difference, 0.4, 95 % CI]−0.8, 1.6],  , p = 0.545 ), when even taking shared family factors into account.
Similar results were obtained when examining infections during the biweekly period of exposure during gestation. The study’s main drawbacks were the insufficient data on the underlying pathogenic microorganisms and the prescriptions for hospital medications.
Conclusions
Our study does not support the safety of commonly prescribed antimicrobials during pregnancy with regard to the long-term cognitive outcomes of the offspring, nor does it support the major effects of common maternal infections during pregnancy on offspring cognitive outcomes.
