ArticleJournal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines2018
The role of birth weight on the causal pathway to child and adolescent ADHD symptomatology: a population-based twin differences longitudinal design.
Article in Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Epigenome-wide DNA methylation in externalizing behaviours: A review and combined analysis.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Early environmental risk factors for neurodevelopmental disorders - a systematic review of twin and sibling studies.Development and psychopathology · 2021Pooled it
- The association between ADHD and physical health: a co-twin control study.Scientific reports · 2020Trial
- Association of cumulative early medical events and neurodevelopmental conditions through a common latent factor-A population-based twin study.JCPP advances · 2026Article
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: insights, advances and challenges in research and practice.Postepy psychiatrii neurologii · 2025Review
- Fluctuating course of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder across development: Multifactorial influences.World journal of psychiatry · 2025Review
- The longitudinal effects of neonatal anthropometry on attention problems in males and females.JCPP advances · 2025Article
- Early-life growth and emotional, behavior and cognitive outcomes in childhood and adolescence in the EU child cohort network: individual participant data meta-analysis of over 109,000 individuals.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2025Article
- The Association Between In Utero Exposure to Painkillers and Trajectories of Hyperactivity and Emotional Problems in Children with Autism Compared with Neurotypical Peers.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Sex-Specific Effects of Birth Weight on Longitudinal Behavioral Outcomes: A Mendelian Randomization Approach Using Polygenic Scores.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2024Article
- The persistent effects of foetal growth on child and adolescent mental health: longitudinal evidence from a large population-based cohort.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2023Article
- Article
- Genetic and environmental contributions to co-occurring physical health conditions in autism spectrum condition and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.Molecular autism · 2023Article
- Explaining the Association Between Fetal Growth and Childhood ADHD Symptoms: Cross-cohort Replication.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2023Article
- Investigating the causal risk factors for self-harm by integrating Mendelian randomisation within twin modelling.Behavior genetics · 2022Article
- Epigenetics and ADHD: Reflections on Current Knowledge, Research Priorities and Translational Potential.Molecular diagnosis & therapy · 2022Article
- Association between Marginally Low Birth Weight and Obesity-Related Outcomes and Indirect Effects via Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Abnormal Eating.Obesity facts · 2022Article
- Twins and Causal Inference: Leveraging Nature's Experiment.Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine · 2021Review
- Birth weight is associated with adolescent brain development: A multimodal imaging study in monozygotic twins.Human brain mapping · 2020Article
- The p factor: genetic analyses support a general dimension of psychopathology in childhood and adolescence.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAvailable evidence points towards lower birth weight as a risk factor for the development of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. We probed the causal nature of this putative effect of birth weight on ADHD symptoms using the twin differences design, which accounts for genetic and shared environmental confounds.
methodIn a large population-based twin sample - 3,499 monozygotic (MZ) and 6,698 dizygotic (DZ) pairs - parents, teachers or twins rated the twins' ADHD symptoms at nine assessment waves (2-16 years). We implemented the twin differences design, which completely accounts for shared environmental and genetic confounding in MZ twins. We tested whether: (a) the lighter-born twins had elevated ADHD symptoms compared to the heavier-born twins, by regressing within-pair differences of ADHD symptoms on within-pair differences of birth weight among MZ twins; (b) the effect of birth weight on ADHD was moderated by gender, gestational age and low birth weight; (c) this effect changed with age at ADHD assessment using adapted latent growth curve models; and (d) results differed for inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity.
resultsBirth weight significantly predicted ADHD symptoms from early childhood to late adolescence. The lighter-born twin had more ADHD symptoms than the heavier-born cotwin among MZ twins across assessment waves and raters. No moderation effect was detected. The magnitude of the effect of birth weight decreased significantly across time for hyperactivity/impulsivity, but the decrease failed to reach significance for inattention. Estimates for inattention were significantly larger than for hyperactivity/impulsivity at each time point, implying stronger effect of birth weight on inattention symptoms.
conclusionsOur findings provide stringent evidence for environmental effect of lower birth weight on the causal pathway to elevated ADHD symptoms. Effect of birth weight persists across a 14-year period from childhood into late adolescence, in particular for inattention symptoms.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.