BackgroundPrevious research has linked prenatal maternal infections to later childhood developmental outcomes and socioemotional difficulties. However, existing studies have relied on retrospectively self‐reported survey data, or data on hospital‐recorded infections only, resulting in gaps in data collection.MethodsThis study used a large linked administrative health dataset, bringing together data from birth records, hospital records, prescriptions and routine child health reviews for 55,856 children born in Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Scotland, 2011–2015, and their mothers. Logistic regression models examined associations between prenatal infections, measured as both hospital‐diagnosed prenatal infections and receipt of infection‐related prescription(s) during pregnancy, and childhood developmental concern(s) identified by health visitors during 6‐8 week or 27‐30 month health reviews. Secondary analyses examined whether results varied by (a) specific developmental outcome types (gross‐motor‐skills, hearing‐communication, vision‐social‐awareness, personal‐social, emotional‐behavioural‐attention and speech‐language‐communication) and (b) the trimester(s) in which infections occurred.ResultsAfter confounder/covariate adjustment, hospital‐diagnosed infections were associated with increased odds of having at least one developmental concern (OR: 1.30; 95% CI: 1.19–1.42). This was broadly consistent across all developmental outcome types and appeared to be specifically linked to infections occurring in pregnancy trimesters 2 (OR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.07–1.67) and 3 (OR: 1.33; 95% CI: 1.21–1.47), that is the trimesters in which foetal brain myelination occurs. Infection‐related prescriptions were not associated with any clear increase in odds of having at least one developmental concern after confounder/covariate adjustment (OR: 1.03; 95% CI: 0.98–1.08), but were associated with slightly increased odds of concerns specifically related to personal‐social (OR: 1.12; 95% CI: 1.03–1.22) and emotional‐behavioural‐attention (OR: 1.15; 95% CI: 1.08–1.22) development.ConclusionsPrenatal infections, particularly those which are hospital‐diagnosed (and likely more severe), are associated with early childhood developmental outcomes. Prevention of prenatal infections, and monitoring of support needs of affected children, may improve childhood development, but causality remains to be established.

中文翻译：

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产前孕产妇感染和儿童早期发育结果：苏格兰大格拉斯哥和克莱德地区相关行政健康数据分析


背景先前的研究已将产前母亲感染与儿童后期的发育结果和社会情感困难联系起来。然而，现有的研究依赖于回顾性自我报告的调查数据，或仅依赖医院记录的感染数据，导致数据收集上的空白。方法本研究使用了一个大型关联的行政健康数据集，汇集了来自出生记录、医院记录、为 2011 年至 2015 年在苏格兰大格拉斯哥和克莱德出生的 55,856 名儿童及其母亲提供处方和常规儿童健康检查。 Logistic 回归模型检查了产前感染（以医院诊断的产前感染和怀孕期间收到感染相关处方来衡量）与健康访视者在 6-8 周或 27-30 周期间发现的儿童发育问题之间的关联。月健康回顾。二次分析检查了结果是否因（a）特定的发展结果类型（粗大运动技能、听力沟通、视觉社会意识、个人社交、情绪行为注意力和言语语言沟通）而变化，以及（b） ）发生感染的妊娠期。结果经过混杂因素/协变量调整后，医院诊断的感染与出现至少一种发育问题的几率增加相关（OR：1.30；95% CI：1.19-1.42）。这在所有发育结果类型中大致一致，并且似乎与妊娠三个月期 2（OR：1.34；95% CI：1.07–1.67）和 3（OR：1.33；95% CI：1.21–1.47）中发生的感染特别相关。 ，即胎儿脑髓鞘形成发生的三个月期。 感染相关处方与混杂因素/协变量调整后出现至少一种发育问题的几率明显增加无关（OR：1.03；95% CI：0.98-1.08），但与特定相关问题的几率略有增加相关个人社交（OR：1.12；95% CI：1.03–1.22）和情绪行为注意力（OR：1.15；95% CI：1.08–1.22）发展。结论产前感染，特别是那些医院诊断的（和可能更严重），与儿童早期发育结果相关。预防产前感染和监测受影响儿童的支持需求可能会改善儿童发育，但因果关系仍有待确定。