ArticleTranslational psychiatry2019
Early exposure to antibiotic drugs and risk for psychiatric disorders: a population-based study.
Article in Translational psychiatry, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 99 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence of systemic antibacterial use during pregnancy worldwide: A systematic review.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Early Life Antibiotic Exposure and the Subsequent Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2022Pooled it
- A systematic review of gut microbiota composition in observational studies of major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.Molecular psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Prenatal exposure to antibiotics and risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Pooled it
- Antibiotic exposure and childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychopharmacology · 2021Pooled it
- Trial
- Patterns of Antibiotic Dispensing Among New Zealand Children: A Linkage Study.Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety · 2026Article
- Article
- From Womb to Weaning: Microbial Signals That Shape the Developing Brain.Developmental neuroscience · 2026Review
- Polygenic score for C-reactive protein is linked to faster cortical thinning and psychopathology risk in adolescents.Nature. Mental health · 2026Article
- Infectious diseases and childhood disruptive behavior disorders: a reappraisal.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Article
- Dual Impact of Iron Deficiency and Antibiotics on Host Metabolism: A Tissue-Level Analysis.Metabolites · 2025Article
- Impact of early life antibiotic exposure on the preschool developmental status: a nationwide population-based study.BMJ paediatrics open · 2025Article
- The role of breastfeeding, antibiotics and antimalarial medicinal exposure in paediatric depression amongst children aged under 5: a population-based study.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- The 16p11.2 microdeletion influences how early-life microbiota perturbations affect hippocampal development and behavior throughout the lifespan.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- The microbiome as a modulator of neurological health across the maternal-offspring interface.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2025Review
- Childhood appendectomy and subsequent psychiatric illness.PLOS mental health · 2025Article
- Guarding minds: a narrative review on how n-acetylcyteine and ketones could shield sensitive patients from antibiotic neurotoxicity.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Review
- The gut-brain connection: microbes' influence on mental health and psychological disorders.Frontiers in microbiomes · 2025Review
- The microbiota-gut-brain axis in mental and neurodegenerative disorders: opportunities for prevention and intervention.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Early life exposure to infection, anti-infectives and altered immune activity have been associated with elevated risk of some psychiatric disorders. However, the risk from exposure in fetal life has been proposed to be confounded by familial factors. The hypothesis of this study is that antibiotic drug exposure during the fetal period and the first two postnatal years is associated with risk for later development of psychiatric disorders in children. All births in Finland between 1996 and 2012, 1 million births, were studied for antibiotic drug exposure: mothers during pregnancy and the children the first two postnatal years. The children were followed up for a wide spectrum of psychiatric diagnoses and psychotropic drug treatment until 2014. Cox proportional hazards modeling was used to estimate effects of antibiotic drug exposure on offspring psychiatric disorders. Modestly (10-50%) increased risks were found on later childhood development of sleep disorders, ADHD, conduct disorder, mood and anxiety disorders, and other behavioral and emotional disorders with childhood onset (ICD-10 F98), supported by increased risks also for childhood psychotropic medication. The prenatal exposure effects detected were not explained by explored familial confounding, nor by registered maternal infections. To conclude, this longitudinal nation-wide study shows that early life antibiotic drug exposure is associated with an increased risk for childhood development of psychopathology. Given the high occurrence of early-life antibiotic exposure, these findings are of public health relevance. Whether the associations reflect effects of the antibiotic drug use or of the targeted infections remains to be explored further.
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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.