Gunther Nicole, Drukker Marjan, Feron Frans, Van Os Jim
Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, South Limburg Mental Health Research and Teaching Network, EURON, Maastricht University, PO Box 616 (DRT10), 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Eur Psychiatry. 2005 May;20(3):277-86. doi: 10.1016/j.eurpsy.2004.11.009.
The present study was conducted to examine (i) prenatal and postnatal patterns of growth in relation to the risk of later mental health problems in children and (ii) the possible mediating effect of these patterns of growth in the association between parental socioeconomic status (SES) and children's mental health.
The present study is part of a blinded, matched case control study, involving a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data from routine examinations at community health services for children and adolescents. The sample comprised 80 patients, referred between the age of 6-13 years to the Community Mental Health Centre in Maastricht, and 320 matched population controls.
Children coming from unemployed families weighed less at birth, but postnatal growth was not associated with this or other indicators of SES. Although children using mental health care were somewhat smaller at birth, there was no evidence that leanness during childhood was a risk factor for the development of mental health problems.
The present results showed some evidence for the impact of intrauterine development on children's mental health problems. In addition, neither prenatal nor postnatal physical growth were on the pathway between parental SES and children's mental health problems.
本研究旨在探讨（i）产前和产后的生长模式与儿童后期心理健康问题风险之间的关系，以及（ii）这些生长模式在父母社会经济地位（SES）与儿童心理健康之间的关联中可能起到的中介作用。
本研究是一项盲法、匹配病例对照研究的一部分，涉及对社区卫生服务机构针对儿童和青少年进行的常规检查中前瞻性收集的数据进行回顾性分析。样本包括80名年龄在6至13岁之间被转诊至马斯特里赫特社区心理健康中心的患者，以及320名匹配的人群对照。
来自失业家庭的儿童出生时体重较轻，但产后生长与这一情况或其他SES指标无关。尽管接受心理健康护理的儿童出生时体型稍小，但没有证据表明儿童期消瘦是心理健康问题发展的风险因素。
目前的结果显示了一些子宫内发育对儿童心理健康问题有影响的证据。此外，产前和产后的身体生长均未处于父母SES与儿童心理健康问题之间的关联路径上。
