ArticlePsychological medicine2022
Prenatal choline, cannabis, and infection, and their association with offspring development of attention and social problems through 4 years of age.
Article in Psychological medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Vaping and Smoking in Pregnancy-A Meta-Analysis of Neurobehavioural Development in Prenatally Exposed Offspring.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2025Pooled it
- Choline During Pregnancy and Child Neurodevelopment: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials and Observational Studies.Nutrients · 2025Pooled it
- Association between Maternal Choline, Fetal Brain Development, and Child Neurocognition: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Human Studies.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2022Pooled it
- Maternal choline supplementation mitigates alcohol exposure effects on neonatal brain volumes.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2021Trial
- Choline status and related health outcomes in humans: A scoping review.Nutrition and health · 2026Article
- Association of dietary choline intake in late pregnancy with the early neurobehavioral development of offspring.European journal of nutrition · 2026Article
- Review
- The Effect of Maternal Choline Intake on Offspring Cognition in Adolescence: Protocol for a 14-year Follow-Up of a Randomized Controlled Feeding Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Mental health and well-being for the prevention of substance use disorders.Indian journal of psychiatry · 2024Article
- Associations between Prenatal and Postnatal Exposure to Cannabis with Cognition and Behavior at Age 5 Years: The Healthy Start Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Prenatal cannabis use and its impact on offspring neuro-behavioural outcomes: A systematic review.Paediatrics & child health · 2023Article
- Choline - a scoping review for Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2023.Food & nutrition research · 2023Article
- Maternal prenatal choline and inflammation effects on 4-year-olds' performance on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-IV.Journal of psychiatric research · 2021Article
- One carbon metabolism and early development: a diet-dependent destiny.Trends in endocrinology and metabolism: TEM · 2021Review
- Maternal nutrients and effects of gestational COVID-19 infection on fetal brain development.Clinical nutrition ESPEN · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPrenatal choline is a key nutrient, like folic acid and vitamin D, for fetal brain development and subsequent mental function. We sought to determine whether effects of higher maternal plasma choline concentrations on childhood attention and social problems, found in an initial clinical trial of choline supplementation, are observed in a second cohort.
methodsOf 183 mothers enrolled from an urban safety net hospital clinic, 162 complied with gestational assessments and brought their newborns for study at 1 month of age; 83 continued assessments through 4 years of age. Effects of maternal 16 weeks of gestation plasma choline concentrations ⩾7.07 μM, 1 s.d. below the mean level obtained with supplementation in the previous trial, were compared to lower levels. The Attention Problems and Withdrawn Syndrome scales on Child Behavior Checklist 1½-5 were the principal outcomes.
resultsHigher maternal plasma choline was associated with lower mean Attention Problems percentiles in children, and for male children, with lower Withdrawn percentiles. Higher plasma choline concentrations also reduced Attention Problems percentiles for children of mothers who used cannabis during gestation as well as children of mothers who had gestational infection.
conclusionsPrenatal choline's positive associations with early childhood behaviors are found in a second, more diverse cohort. Increases in attention problems and social withdrawal in early childhood are associated with later mental illnesses including attention deficit disorder and schizophrenia. Choline concentrations in the pregnant women in this study replicate other research findings suggesting that most pregnant women do not have adequate choline in their diets.
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Registered trials
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