Testing the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease Hypothesis for Psychopathology Using Family‐Based, Quasi‐Experimental Designs

D’Onofrio, Brian M.; Class, Quetzal A.; Lahey, Benjamin B.; Larsson, Henrik

doi:10.1111/cdep.12078

Cited by 39 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 45 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The moderation of BW effects by child sex has been previously investigated in a population-based sibling analysis; however, results from that study did not indicate sex moderation (Class et al, 2014). The use of sibling designs remains essential for parsing genetic confounds in work aiming to understand the impact of environmental exposures on the development of psychopathology (D’Onofrio et al, 2014). Yet, much of this work has focused on categorical ADHD outcomes (rather than dimensional symptom scores), which may account for our discrepant findings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex moderates the impact of birth weight on child externalizing psychopathology.

Momany

Kamradt

Ullsperger

et al. 2017

Journal of Abnormal Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Low birth weight (LBW) has consistently been associated with childhood attention- deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and a similar association has been found for childhood externalizing disorders, such as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD), albeit to a lesser degree. Although the association between LBW and these disorders has been robustly replicated, few studies have adequately controlled for confounding variables, such as parental age at birth and prenatal tobacco use, examined the specificity of the risk of LBW for ADHD symptoms, or investigated potential nonlinear (i.e., quadratic) effects of birth weight. Additionally, the extent to which LBW confers risk for these disorders depending on childhood sex has rarely been examined. The current study examined associations between birth weight and ADHD, ODD, and CD symptom dimensions as well as the extent to which such associations are moderated by child sex, while also controlling for confounding variables. Significant interactions between sex and birth weight emerged across all analyses predicting ADHD and externalizing psychopathology, such that associations were stronger in males relative to females. Results remained when controlling for a number of confounds, including parental age, prenatal tobacco use, comorbid psychopathology, as well as other indicators of maternal and child health during the pre- and perinatal period. Both linear and quadratic associations emerged between birth weight and both hyperactivity and CD symptoms, whereas birth weight predicted inattention and ODD symptoms in a linear fashion. Future research should continue to investigate the impact of birth weight on ADHD and externalizing psychopathology, in particular the biological mechanisms underlying this association.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex moderates the impact of birth weight on child externalizing psychopathology.

Momany

Kamradt

Ullsperger

et al. 2017

Journal of Abnormal Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…First, to further strengthen the inference from these methods we believe that researchers should also use other family-based, genetically-informative designs, such as the co-twin design (McGue et al, 2010), quantitative genetic modeling of identical and fraternal twins (Turkheimer & Harden, submitted), adoption studies (Leve, Neiderhiser, Scaramella, & Reiss, 2010), and in vitro fertilization approaches (Thapar et al, 2007) when appropriate. For instance, causal inference regarding the importance of fetal growth for psychosocial outcomes have been greatly strengthened by the use of several genetically-informed designs (review in Donofrio et al, 2014). Researchers also can use genetically-informed approaches that rely on molecular genetic data, such as Mendelian Randomization (Smith & Ebrahim, 2005), to examine early-life exposures.…”

Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Genetically-informative studies can help test competing hypotheses, which is the focus of the articles in this special issue of Behavior Genetics . Several articles and books also review the strengths and limitations of many different genetically informed designs (e.g., D’Onofrio, Lahey, Turkheimer, & Lichtenstein, 2013; Knopik, 2009; Lawlor & Mishra, 2009; Rutter, Pickles, Murray, & Eaves, 2001), and elsewhere we have briefly reviewed how some of the designs have been specifically used to examine early-life exposures (Donofrio, Class, Lahey, & Larsson, 2014). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Translational Epidemiologic Approaches to Understanding the Consequences of Early-Life Exposures

et al. 2015

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Prominent developmental theories posit a causal link between early-life exposures and later functioning. Yet, observed associations with early exposures may not reflect causal effects because of genetic and environmental confounding. The current manuscript describes how a systematic series of epidemiologic analyses that combine several genetically-informative designs and statistical approaches can help distinguish between competing theories. In particular, the manuscript details how combining the use of measured covariates with sibling-comparisons, cousin-comparisons, and additional designs can help elucidate the sources of covariation between early-life exposures and later outcomes, including the roles of (a) factors that are not shared in families, including a potential causal effect of the exposure; (b) carryover effects from the exposure of one child to the next; and (c) familial confounding. We also describe key assumptions, and how they can be critically evaluated. Furthermore, we outline how subsequent analyses, including effect decomposition with respect to measured, plausible mediators, and quantitative genetic models can help further specify the underlying processes that account for the associations between early-life exposures and offspring outcomes.

show abstract

“…Thus, the same genetic influences causing poor health in the mother may also lead to LBW or fetal growth restriction, and subsequently cause poorer health in her offspring. This could explain some of the associations found between LBW and adverse health effects in offspring (D’Onofrio, Class, Lahey, & Larsson, 2014; Oberg, Cnattingius, Sandin, Lichtenstein, & Iliadou, 2011). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Finally, co-twin control analyses allow us to determine whether potential associations between LBW and self-perceived health are due to shared genetic or environmental effects (shared underlying liability) or whether they are truly causal in nature, i.e. the effects of fetal growth on self-perceived health are direct environmental (D’Onofrio et al, 2014; McGue, Osler, & Christensen, 2010). As twin siblings have identical gestational age, BW differences within twin pairs reflect differences in fetal growth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations Between Fetal Growth and Self-Perceived Health Throughout Adulthood: A Co-twin Control Study

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The literature shows evidence for long-lasting effects of low birth weight (LBW) on many health outcomes, but little is known about effects on self-perceived health. Findings are mixed and studies are small, mostly focusing on LBW effects on health outcomes before adulthood. Further, as LBW and most health conditions including self-perceived health are partly heritable, associations between birth weight (BW) and adverse health outcomes may also be due to shared genetic as well as other (pre- and postnatal) unmeasured environmental influences. We explored LBW effects on self-perceived health in early and later adulthood using a very large and genetically informative sample of more than 50,000 Swedish twins. In addition, analyses within twin pairs (the co-twin control design) were used to examine potential associations between BW and the offspring’s risk for poor self-perceived health independent of shared environmental or genetic factors, evidence which is critical for the understanding of underlying mechanisms. Results showed that lower BW was significantly associated with poorer self-perceived health during adulthood, although the effect size was small. Co-twin control analyses suggested that this increased risk may be due to shared underlying liability (environmental or genetic) rather than a direct effect of BW, but findings were not conclusive.

show abstract

Testing the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease Hypothesis for Psychopathology Using Family‐Based, Quasi‐Experimental Designs

Cited by 39 publications

References 45 publications

Sex moderates the impact of birth weight on child externalizing psychopathology.

Sex moderates the impact of birth weight on child externalizing psychopathology.

Translational Epidemiologic Approaches to Understanding the Consequences of Early-Life Exposures

Associations Between Fetal Growth and Self-Perceived Health Throughout Adulthood: A Co-twin Control Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About