Birth weight and the risk of depressive disorder in late life

Background Low birth weight is a risk factor for coronary heart disease, di abetes, stroke and hypertension, Depression is highly associated with these conditions. Aims To examine the association between birth weight and depression in late life. Method A total of 882 singleton term births in the 1920s had contemporary r ecords of birth weight and weight at I year. At 68 years all completed the Geriatric Depression Scale and 867 completed the Geriatric Mental State Exa mination. A logistic regression was used to analyse the associations betwee n depression, birth weight and weight at I year while adjusting for known r isk factors. Results Current social class, social class at birth, recent bereavement, so cial isolation and physical illness increased the risk of depression. After adjusting for these and weight at I year, the odds ratios for depression a mong men, but not women, rose incrementally with decreasing birth weight (1 .0, 12.8; for continuous variable, P < 0.007). Conclusions Foetal undernutrition predisposes men to depression in late adu lt life. If replicated, these results would suggest a neurodevelopmental ae tiology of depression, possibly mediated by programming of the hypothalamic -pituitary-adrenal axis. Declaration of interest None.