Children born prematurely – even as little as two weeks early – may have a significantly higher risk of developing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), reports a new study published in the journal Pediatrics.
Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden studied data from over one million children, ages 6 to 19, comparing the length of pregnancy and whether the children had been prescribed ADHD medication.
Of the children in the study, 7,506 were being treated for the disorder with prescription drugs. Even after adjusting for other factors including genetics and income, the researchers found that those who had been born between 23 and 28 weeks of pregnancy were two-and-a-half times more likely to be on the medication than children born at full-term (39 weeks).
Even babies born as late as 37 weeks, only two weeks shy of full-term, were 20 percent more likely to be prescribed medication for ADHD.
"Preterm and early term birth increases the risk of ADHD by degree of immaturity," concluded the authors.