Is birth weight associated with risk of depressive symptoms in young women? Evidence from the Southampton Women's Survey.

Although some studies have shown negative associations between birth weight and risk of depression, others have not. Studies also differ regarding the age and gender specificity of reported associations. In this paper, the authors report on a study of 5,830 women aged 20-34 years from the general po...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Inskip, H, Dunn, N, Godfrey, K, Cooper, C, Kendrick, T
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2008
_version_ 1797058412671926272
author Inskip, H
Dunn, N
Godfrey, K
Cooper, C
Kendrick, T
author_facet Inskip, H
Dunn, N
Godfrey, K
Cooper, C
Kendrick, T
author_sort Inskip, H
collection OXFORD
description Although some studies have shown negative associations between birth weight and risk of depression, others have not. Studies also differ regarding the age and gender specificity of reported associations. In this paper, the authors report on a study of 5,830 women aged 20-34 years from the general population in Southampton, United Kingdom, interviewed in 2000-2002 that found no relation between birth weight and current depressive symptoms or past treatment for depression. Prevalence ratios for current symptoms and for past treatment, in relation to reported or recorded birth weights, were all remarkably close to 1.0, with narrow 95% confidence intervals. For example, the prevalence ratio from the fully adjusted model for current depressive symptoms in relation to a standard deviation increase in reported birth weight was 1.01 (95% confidence interval: 0.98, 1.05). Generally, the associations reported elsewhere are not strong. The authors found a weak, inverse association in exploratory analyses of duration of gestation at birth in relation to depressive symptoms, but this finding requires replication. Because birth weight and duration of gestation are relatively poor markers of fetal development, other markers of fetal and early development should be explored. However, data from this study do not support a major developmental contribution to the etiology of depression in women.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T19:50:11Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:23b4658d-3cb6-4aae-8441-3e7f1cd63f20
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-06T19:50:11Z
publishDate 2008
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:23b4658d-3cb6-4aae-8441-3e7f1cd63f202022-03-26T11:45:45ZIs birth weight associated with risk of depressive symptoms in young women? Evidence from the Southampton Women's Survey.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:23b4658d-3cb6-4aae-8441-3e7f1cd63f20EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2008Inskip, HDunn, NGodfrey, KCooper, CKendrick, TAlthough some studies have shown negative associations between birth weight and risk of depression, others have not. Studies also differ regarding the age and gender specificity of reported associations. In this paper, the authors report on a study of 5,830 women aged 20-34 years from the general population in Southampton, United Kingdom, interviewed in 2000-2002 that found no relation between birth weight and current depressive symptoms or past treatment for depression. Prevalence ratios for current symptoms and for past treatment, in relation to reported or recorded birth weights, were all remarkably close to 1.0, with narrow 95% confidence intervals. For example, the prevalence ratio from the fully adjusted model for current depressive symptoms in relation to a standard deviation increase in reported birth weight was 1.01 (95% confidence interval: 0.98, 1.05). Generally, the associations reported elsewhere are not strong. The authors found a weak, inverse association in exploratory analyses of duration of gestation at birth in relation to depressive symptoms, but this finding requires replication. Because birth weight and duration of gestation are relatively poor markers of fetal development, other markers of fetal and early development should be explored. However, data from this study do not support a major developmental contribution to the etiology of depression in women.
spellingShingle Inskip, H
Dunn, N
Godfrey, K
Cooper, C
Kendrick, T
Is birth weight associated with risk of depressive symptoms in young women? Evidence from the Southampton Women's Survey.
title Is birth weight associated with risk of depressive symptoms in young women? Evidence from the Southampton Women's Survey.
title_full Is birth weight associated with risk of depressive symptoms in young women? Evidence from the Southampton Women's Survey.
title_fullStr Is birth weight associated with risk of depressive symptoms in young women? Evidence from the Southampton Women's Survey.
title_full_unstemmed Is birth weight associated with risk of depressive symptoms in young women? Evidence from the Southampton Women's Survey.
title_short Is birth weight associated with risk of depressive symptoms in young women? Evidence from the Southampton Women's Survey.
title_sort is birth weight associated with risk of depressive symptoms in young women evidence from the southampton women s survey
work_keys_str_mv AT inskiph isbirthweightassociatedwithriskofdepressivesymptomsinyoungwomenevidencefromthesouthamptonwomenssurvey
AT dunnn isbirthweightassociatedwithriskofdepressivesymptomsinyoungwomenevidencefromthesouthamptonwomenssurvey
AT godfreyk isbirthweightassociatedwithriskofdepressivesymptomsinyoungwomenevidencefromthesouthamptonwomenssurvey
AT cooperc isbirthweightassociatedwithriskofdepressivesymptomsinyoungwomenevidencefromthesouthamptonwomenssurvey
AT kendrickt isbirthweightassociatedwithriskofdepressivesymptomsinyoungwomenevidencefromthesouthamptonwomenssurvey