Examining the association between maternal analgesic use during pregnancy and risk of psychotic symptoms during adolescence
Section snippets
Background
Children and adolescents reporting psychotic symptoms appear to be at increased risk for psychotic disorders in adulthood (Poulton et al., 2000). They may represent a ‘high risk’ group for psychotic illness and used to explore early risk factors for psychosis vulnerability (Kelleher et al., 2008, van Os et al., 2009).
An association between prenatal exposure to influenza or other infections and schizophrenia in later life has been observed in several epidemiological studies (Barr et al., 1990,
Sample
This study examines data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort. The cohort was set up to examine genetic and environmental determinants of health and development (Golding et al., 2001). The initial cohort consisted of 14,062 children born to residents of the Bristol area, UK, who had an expected date of delivery between 1st April 1991 and 31st December 1992 (www.alspac.bris.ac.uk) The parents completed regular postal questionnaires concerning their child's
Results
Of the 6437 cohort members who participated in the PLIKSi, 880 (13.6%) were rated as having suspected or definite psychotic symptoms at age 12. Of these, 409 were male (46%) and 471 were female. There were 3901 (63%) adolescents whose mothers took analgesics at some point during their pregnancy; 3758 (58.4% of sample) used paracetamol, 345 (5.7%) used aspirin, and 209 (3.2%) used other types of analgesics. There were 398 (6.2%) mothers who used more than one type of analgesic. Use of
Discussion
In this study increasing frequency of aspirin use during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of the offspring reporting psychotic experiences. Risk was more than two-fold greater in those who were exposed to aspirin most days throughout their foetal development. Maternal use of paracetamol and other analgesics were not associated with the risk of psychotic symptoms.
We found no evidence that the association between exposure to aspirin in-utero and psychotic symptoms was stronger when
Role of funding source
The UK Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust and the University of Bristol provide core support for ALSPAC. This study was funded by the Wellcome Trust grant no. GR072043MA. SZ was funded through a Clinician Scientist Award funded by the National Assembly for Wales.
Contributors
SZ designed the study and wrote the protocol. LG managed the literature searches and analyses. SZ and LG undertook the statistical analysis and wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to and have approved the final manuscript.
Conflict of interest
All authors declare they have no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgements
We are extremely grateful to all the families who took part in this study, the midwives for their help in recruiting them, and the whole ALSPAC team, which includes interviewers, computer and laboratory technicians, clerical workers, research scientists, volunteers, managers, receptionists and nurses.
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