15 Sep Study Finds Children of Addicted Parents Have Risk of Intellectual Disability

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Lotfi Khemiri
Centre for Psychiatry Research
Stockholm, Sweden

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Our study used large-scale national register data in close to 2 million children, and found that parental abuse of both alcohol and drugs are associated with increased risk of intellectual disability in the offspring. Importantly, the risk increase was observed in both mothers and fathers which to the best of our knowledge is a novel finding, and may be explained by both genetic and environmental factors including toxic effects of substance intake on fetal development.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: Our results highlight the need for health care services and prevention efforts to target not only mothers but also fathers with substance use disorder, in order to prevent and diagnose children with intellectual disability. 

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a results of this study?

Response: Future studies should further disentangle the role of genetic versus environmental factors in explaining this association, as well as further investigating any substance specific effects for different types of narcotic drugs and their interaction.

Citation:

Parental substance use disorder and risk of intellectual disability in offspring in Sweden: a national register study Lotfi Khemiri, Ralf Kuja-Halkola, Henrik Larsson, Agnieszka Butwicka, Magnus Tideman, Brian M. D’Onofrio, Antti Latvala, and Paul Lichtenstein

eClinicalMedicine 2023;63: 102170 Published Online xxx https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.eclinm.2023. 102170

https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2589-5370%2823%2900347-4

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Last Updated on September 15, 2023 by Marie Benz