Neurodevelopment within the First Three Years of Life Does Not Predict Psychotic Experiences at Age 10: A Prospective Cohort Study
18 Pages Posted: 8 Oct 2024
Abstract
Background. Early childhood developmental delays, and lower cognitive and motor function have been found to be related to psychotic experiences (PE), i.e. subclinical hallucinations and delusions, in middle childhood. These findings suggest a neurodevelopmental pathway to PE in childhood. This study examined for the first time if prospectively assessed neurodevelopment in infancy from birth to age 3 predicted PE at age 10. Methods. We included data from the population-based prospective longitudinal cohort COPSAC2010 (n = 700). Parents reported on children milestones starting at 1 week old, language acquisition at 1 and 2 years of age, and children were evaluated on cognition at 2.5 years and general development at 3 years. At age 10, children were clinically assessed regarding PE. We used adjusted logistic regression models to assess the association between developmental within the first years of life and later PE. Results. We evaluated 593 children at 10 years regarding PE, of which 77 (13%) reported having experienced PE. We did not find significant associations between early life neurodevelopment and childhood PE. Excluding children with neurodevelopmental diagnosis (i.e, ADHD, autism and tics), yielded similar results. Conclusions. Delays in developmental milestones, language acquisition, and cognition during the first 3 years of life were not associated with PE in middle childhood. The findings do not support that childhood PE occurs as a result of atypical early neurodevelopment. Given that we report results on one time point PE, clarification of implications of persistent PE is warranted.
Note:
Funding Information: This work was supported by The Lundbeck Foundation (Grant no. R269-2017-5)
Conflict of Interests: All authors declare no potential, perceived, or real conflict of interest regarding the content of this manuscript. Dr. Ebdrup has received lecture fees and/or is part of Advisory Boards of BristolMyers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, Janssen-Cilag, Otsuka Pharma Scandinavia AB, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Lundbeck Pharma A/S. Dr. Glenthøj has been the leader of a Lundbeck Foundation Centre of Excellence for Clinical Intervention and Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research (CINS) (January 2009 – December 2021), which was partially financed by an independent grant from the Lundbeck Foundation based on international review and partially financed by the Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark, the University of Copenhagen, and other foundations. All grants are the property of the Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark and administered by them. She has no other conflicts to disclose. The funding agencies did not have any role in design and conduct of the study; collection, management, and interpretation of the data; or preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript. No pharmaceutical company was involved in the study.
Ethical Approval: The study was conducted in accordance with the guiding principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Local Ethics Committee (H-B-2008-093), and the Danish Data Protection Agency (2015-41-3696).
Keywords: cohort study, psychotic experiences, neurodevelopment
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