Family Tips

Strong stress experienced by future mother during the early pregnancy, raises risk of schizophrenia in the child, informs edition Archives of General Psychiatry.

Scientists from University of Aarhus used the data of about 1,38 million deliveries, fixed in the Danish national register in the period from 1973 to 1995. Using the data of the register, head of the research Preben Bo Mortensen and his colleagues have specified almost 22 thousand women, who have experienced death of the spouse or other close relative, and 14 thousand future mothers, whose close relatives were diagnosed cancer heart attack or an insult. Then scientists have tracked destiny of these women’s children.

It was found out, that children of these women 67 % more often fell ill with schizophrenia. Death of the relative at the late pregnancy, as well as the news about illness of the close person, did not influence risk of schizophrenia, informed researchers.

In the researchers’ opinion, hormones, generated by an organism of a future mother in reply to stress, can influence fetus’ brain developing.