Low birth weight deliveries closely associated with reduced cognitive function suggests study

A recent study published in the Neurology journal identified a potential link between a history of low birth weight (LBW) deliveries and cognitive decline in middle-aged women. The findings suggest that mothers who have delivered LBW babies (weighing less than 2,500 grams), may be at an increased risk for cognitive impairment later in life.

The study utilized data from the Nurses' Health Study II which involved female nurses enrolled since 1989. In 2009, the participants provided detailed reproductive histories, and the nurses who completed specific post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) questionnaires were subsequently invited to join a cognition substudy. This substudy included two waves of baseline data collection in 2014 and 2018. This analysis focused on a total of 15,323 women who reported giving birth at age 18 or older and who had valid cognitive assessments.

Cognitive function was evaluated using the self-administered Cogstate Brief Battery which includes tasks measuring psychomotor speed, attention, learning, and working memory. The study team created composite z-scores for these cognitive functions, where higher scores indicated better performance. They employed multivariable linear regression models to analyze the data after adjusting for various factors such as age, race, education, socioeconomic status and pre-pregnancy characteristics.

The study found that 1,224 participants (8%) had a history of delivering LBW babies. After controlling for multiple variables, the results indicated that these women had significantly lower cognitive function scores when compared to the participants who had not delivered LBW babies. The z-scores for psychomotor speed/attention were lower by 0.06 points (95% CI −0.12 to −0.01) and for learning/working memory by 0.05 points (95% CI −0.09 to −0.01). Also, a gradient effect was observed, with cognitive function scores decreasing as the number of LBW deliveries increased.

The findings suggest that a history of LBW delivery could serve as a marker for future cognitive decline in mothers. These results underline the importance of monitoring and potentially intervening with women who have underwent LBW deliveries to reduce long-term cognitive risks. If further research confirms these findings, early preventive measures could be developed to support cognitive health in this high-risk group. Overall, the outcomes of the study highlights a crucial link between maternal health and long-term cognitive outcomes which could direct to preventive strategies customized to women with LBW delivery histories and thereby to reduce the burden of cognitive impairment,

Reference:

Soria-Contreras, D. C., Liu, J., Lawn, R. B., Wang, S., Purdue-Smithe, A., Grodstein, F., Oken, E., & Chavarro, J. E. (2024). Lifetime History of Low Birth Weight Delivery and Cognitive Function in Middle-Aged Parous Women. In Neurology (Vol. 103, Issue 1). Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health). https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0000000000209504