Addiction, Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, Education, Karolinski Institute / 15.09.2023
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. (more…)