Title: Premature birth linked to worse mental health - BBC News
Headings: Premature birth linked to worse mental health
Premature birth linked to worse mental health
Heightened risk
'Striking'

Content: Premature birth linked to worse mental health - BBC News
Premature birth linked to worse mental health
By James Gallagher
Health and science reporter, BBC News
Published
1 June 2012
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One in 13 babies are born before 36 weeks
Being born prematurely is linked to an increased risk of a range of mental health problems much later in life, according to researchers. Bipolar disorder, depression and psychosis were all more likely, the study in The Archives of General Psychiatry suggested. The overall risk remained very low, but was higher in premature babies. Experts cautioned there have since been significant advances in caring for premature babies. Full-term pregnancies last for around 40 weeks, but one in 13 babies are born prematurely, before 36 weeks. Heightened risk
Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden analysed data from 1.3m people born in Sweden between 1973 and 1985. They found 10,523 people were admitted to hospital with a psychiatric disorders, 580 of those had been born prematurely. The academics showed full-term children had a two in 1,000 chance of being admitted. The risk was four in 1,000 for premature babies born before 36 weeks and six in 1,000 for those born before 32 weeks. Very premature babies were more than seven times more like to have bipolar disorder and nearly three times as likely to have depression.