More evidence links mom's flu in pregnancy with schizophrenia in kids
CHICAGO A study of nearly 200 women suggests children whose mothers get the flu while pregnant are at a higher risk of developing schizophrenia. The research says those who had the flu in the first half of pregnancy were three times more likely to have a child develop schizophrenia than non-infected women.
They emphasize that only about one percent of the U-S population has schizophrenia. And results suggest that about 97 percent of babies born to women who had the flu while pregnant will not develop schizophrenia.
But a scientist at Johns Hopkins University says the findings, when added to other evidence. makes influenza infection during pregnancy probably one of several risk factors for schizophrenia.
The study appears in next month's Archives of General Psychiatry.
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