PRESENCE OF PRENATAL MATERNAL STRESS INCREASES THE RISK OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADHD SYMPTOMS IN YOUNG CHILDREN

Aims - to identify association between maternal stress during pregnancy and the developemnt of the attention deficiency hyperactivity syndrom in young children We conducted a case-control study sequentially recruiting 200 children from the "Early detection of disease and screening" State Program, from them 100 children with ADHD diagnose, and 100 subjects, as a control group, without Disruptive Behavior Disorder (DBD), aged between 1 and 6 years. The children were diagnosed with ADHD according to the DSM-IV-R and a clinical interview of the parents that used the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children Version IV (DISC-IV). We investigated the effect of cumulative exposure separately for life events considered as dependent and independent.The mother's stress level was scored from 1 to 5 on the DSM-III and DSM-III-R axis IV scales, according to the highest level of stress experienced during the pregnancy. The presence of stress factor plays an important role in the development of ADHD syndrome, but does not play a statistically significant role in which type of syndrome develops: F90.0, F90.1, F90.2: p=.258. A statistically significant relationship between ADHD diagnosis and stress degree was not confirmed at p=.503. Our data revealed that moderate-grade stress is caused by dependent causes, severe stress by independent causes, this association is statistically significant(p=.001 Cramer's V=.750). A statistically significant negative association was also found between the presence of prenatal stress and the length and weight of the baby at birth. For our study population, the risk of developing the syndrome in children of stress-relieved mothers was 2 times higher than in children of non-stressed mothers RR = 2.042. These findings show that there is an association between maternal stress during pregnancy and ADHD symptoms in offspring and support the hypothesis that prenatal stress causes offspring ADHD through a programming effect and future research should focus on exploring other prenatal factors that might be causally related to ADHD.