Babies born quite premature and also slightly early have increased risk of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The research published in the journal Pediatrics highlights the significance of every gestational week for later neurodevelopment of child.

Study researcher Minna Sucksdorff from the University of Turku in Finland along with the team has evaluated data from 10,321 patients with ADHD and also 38, 355 age and sex-matched control patients. Main aim of conducting the comparative analysis was to know the association between gestational age and weight and the risk of developing ADHD.

In the study, the researchers have also used data from Finnish nationwide registers and the Finnish Medical Birth Register in order to identify infants born between January 1, 1991, and December 31, 2005 and diagnosed with ADHD till December 31, 2011.

After carrying out the assessment, the researchers found that the risk of ADHD increased with every declining week of gestation. The researchers have adjusted factors like smoking during pregnancy, parental age, socioeconomic status, and parental psychiatric history.

The researchers said that the study has found the association with ADHD and preterm birth even in late preterm infants and early term infants. Study researchers said that there could be many reasons for the association like disruption of cortical development, myelination, factors that influence preterm labor such as infection or stress.

“It is more and more established that prenatal health is very important also for mental, emotional, and cognitive development”, said the researchers.