Low Birth Weight: Predictor of Depression?

This study, from the Archives of General Psychiatry, examined the hypothesis that low birth weight (LBW) is a predictor for depression. 1,420 participants, of whom 49% were female, were assessed for psychiatric disorders between the ages of 9 and 16 years. Prevalence of depression among adolescent girls with LBW was 38.1%, compared with 8.4% among adolescent girls with normal birth weight. Prevalence rates for younger and adolescent boys remained under 4.9%. Adolescent girls with LBW and no adversities had no depressive symptoms, but for girls with LBW, each adversity increased their susceptibility to depression more markedly than girls with normal birth weight. http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/64/3/338

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