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Association of Maternal Exposure to Childhood Abuse With Elevated Risk for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Offspring
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Association of Maternal Exposure to Childhood Abuse With Elevated Risk for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Offspring

Andrea L. Roberts, Zeyan Liew, Kristen Lyall, Alberto Ascherio and Marc G. Weisskopf
American journal of epidemiology, v 187(9), pp 1896-1906
01 Sep 2018
PMID: 29762636
url
https://academic.oup.com/aje/article-pdf/187/9/1896/25639627/kwy098.pdfView
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open
url
https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwy098View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Life Sciences & Biomedicine Public, Environmental & Occupational Health Science & Technology
Children whose mothers experienced childhood abuse are more likely to suffer various neurodevelopmental deficits. Whether an association exists specifically for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is unknown. We examined the association of maternal experience of childhood abuse with ADHD in offspring, assessed by maternal report of diagnosis and validated with the ADHD Rating Scale-IV in a subsample, in the Nurses' Health Study II (n = 49,497 mothers; n = 7,607 case offspring; n = 102,151 control offspring). We examined whether 10 adverse perinatal circumstances (e.g., prematurity, smoking) or socioeconomic factors accounted for a possible association. Exposure to abuse was associated with greater prevalence of ADHD in offspring (8.7% of offspring of women exposed to severe abuse vs. 5.5% of offspring of women not abused, P = 0.0001) and with greater risk for ADHD when the model was adjusted for demographic factors (male offspring, risk ratio (RR) = 1.6, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3, 1.9; female offspring, RR = 2.3, 95% CI: 1.7, 3.0). After adjustment for perinatal factors, the association of maternal childhood abuse with ADHD in offspring was slightly attenuated (male offspring, RR = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.2, 1.8; female offspring, RR = 2.1, 95% CI: 1.6, 2.8). We identified an association between maternal experience of childhood abuse and risk for ADHD in offspring, which was not explained by several important perinatal risk factors or socioeconomic status.

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Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
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