Long-term effects of prenatal exposure to earthquake on adult schizophrenia.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Maternal exposure to major stressors during pregnancy has been found to increase the risk of neurodevelopmental, cognitive and psychiatric disorders in the offspring. However, the association between prenatal exposure to earthquake and the risk of adult schizophrenia has yet to be examined. AIMS:To explore the potential long-term effects of prenatal exposure to maternal stress on the risk of schizophrenia in adulthood, using the Great Tangshan Earthquake in 1976 as a natural experiment. METHOD:We obtained data from the Second China National Sample Survey on Disability, and analysed 94 410 Chinese individuals born between 1975 and 1979. We obtained difference-in-differences estimates of the earthquake effects on schizophrenia by exploiting temporal variation in the timing of eart

SUBMITTER: Guo C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7557601 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature