UNWANTEDNESS OF A PREGNANCY AND SCHIZOPHRENIA IN THE CHILD

Background. Maternal stress during pregnancy has been suggested as a r isk factor for schizophrenia. We tested the hypothesis that being the child of an unwanted pregnancy would be associated with later schizoph renia. Methods. Data were collected prospectively in the Northern Finl and 1966 Birth Cohort of 11017 individuals. In the sixth or seventh mo nth of pregnancy mothers were asked whether the pregnancy was wanted, mistimed but wanted or unwanted. Schizophrenia diagnoses in the cohort members were obtained from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register. R esults. Seventy-six cases of DSM-III-R schizophrenia were identified i n the whole cohort between the ages of 16 and 28 years; a cumulative i ncidence of 0.7%, compared with 1.5% for those born from unwanted preg nancies. The risk of later schizophrenia among unwanted children was r aised compared with wanted or mistimed children, even after adjustment for confounding by sociodemographic, pregnancy and perinatal variable s (OR 2.4; 95% CI 1.2-4.8). Conclusions. The results suggest that unwa ntedness may operate either directly as a psychosocial stress during d evelopment making children-more liable to schizophrenia, or it may be a marker for behaviours associated with risk in either the mother or t he child.