June 21, 2024 – Women who give birth to low-birth-weight infants may face an increased risk of developing dementia later in life, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and other collaborating institutions.
The study, which was published in the journal Neurology, was highlighted in a HealthDay article on June 13.
Researchers analyzed data from over 15,000 female participants in the Nurses’ Health Study II, with an average age of 62, all of whom had given birth at least once. The participants underwent tests assessing their cognitive functions, including thinking speed, attention, learning, and working memory. Findings revealed that women who had delivered infants weighing less than 5.5 pounds scored lower on these cognitive tests compared to those who had given birth to normal-weight infants. The decline in cognitive abilities was comparable to aging by one to two years. Furthermore, the study found that the more low-birth-weight infants a woman had, the poorer her cognitive test performance.
“If confirmed, our findings support future investigations into the value of early preventive efforts targeting women with a history of low-birth-weight delivery to reduce the burden of cognitive impairment in women,” the co-authors stated in their study.
The Harvard Chan School co-authors of the study include Diana Soria-Contreras, Jiaxuan Liu, Rebecca Lawn, Siwen Wang, Emily Oken, and Jorge Chavarro.
Read the HealthDay article: Could Moms of Low-Birth-Weight Babies Face Higher Dementia Risk Later?
– Jay Lau
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