Bipolar risk for children of woman who were pregnant with flu

[tetano]

CHILDREN of mothers who catch flu while pregnant are four times more likely to suffer from bipolar disorder in later life, a study suggests.

Mothers-to-be were advised not to be alarmed, but experts said if the findings were confirmed, vaccination policy might have to be changed. All pregnant women are urged by the Department of Health to get a winter flu jab.

Scientists in South Africa and the US looked at data from people born in the American Kaiser Permanente health system between 1959 and 1966, matching their mother's health records with a psychiatric assessment later in life.

Of the 92 bipolar sufferers eight had been exposed to flu in the womb, compared with 19 of 722 otherwise similar people without the disease.

"Offspring exposed to maternal influenza infection at any time during pregnancy were nearly four times more likely to develop bipolar disorder than those who were not exposed," the researchers concluded in the journal JAMA psychiatry.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/bipolar-risk-for-pregnant-mothers-with-flu/story-fnb64oi6-1226638653093

[tetano]

Re: Bipolar risk for pregnant mothers with flu

The original article here

[Emily]

Re: Bipolar risk for pregnant mothers with flu

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/803822

The authors did note that women who had influenza during pregnancy were significantly more likely to have a history of a psychiatric disorder (P = .04).

Dr. Brown said his team did not recommend immunization during pregnancy because vaccination stimulates the immune response, and they theorize that an immune response in influenza triggers a chain of events leading to altered fetal brain development and bipolar disorder.

"I believe there's more benefit than potential harm to influenza vaccination during pregnancy, and there is no evidence in the literature of harm [to the fetus], but we can't rule out the possibility of harm," he said.