Low levels of key, body-regulating chemicals in mothers during the first three months of pregnancy may interfere with the baby’s brain development, a large American study shows.
Low levels of key, body-regulating chemicals in mothers during the first three months of pregnancy may interfere with the baby’s brain development, a large American study shows.
These chemicals, or hormones, are produced in the thyroid gland in the neck and are known to influence fetal growth. Investigators have suspected that disruptions in their production, or hypothyroidism, may contribute to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which is the most common neurodevelopmental disorder of children in the United States.
Led by an NYU Long Island School of Medicine researcher, the new investigation shows that children whose mothers were diagnosed with hypothyroidism shortly before or during the early stages of pregnancy were 24 percent more likely to have ADHD than children whose mothers did not have the diagnosis. The authors say their findings also show that boys born to women with hypothyroidism were four times more vulnerable to ADHD than girls whose mothers had hypothyroidism. Hispanic children born to mothers with hypothyroidism had the highest risk of any ethnic group studied.
“Our findings make clear that thyroid health likely has a much larger role in fetal brain development and behavioral disorders like ADHD than we previously understood,” says study lead author Morgan R. Peltier, PhD. Dr. Peltier is an associate professor of clinical obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive medicine at NYU Long Island School of Medicine, part of NYU Langone Health.
Read more at NYU Langone Health / NYU School of Medicine
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