Association of factors of pregnancy with reading disorders in childhood.

Abstract

The hypothesis that there exists an association between the development of reading disorders in children and certain maternal and fetal factors is part of a broader concept, in which many neuropsychiatric disorders are assumed to represent a continuum of reproductive casualties of varying degrees of severity. Birth certificates were obtained for 372 boys with reading disorders, and in 205 cases the hospital records were located with complete information concerning the complications of pregnancy and delivery. A comparison was made with 205 similar records for boys without reading disorders. Of those with reading disorders, 16.6% had been exposed to two or more maternal complications, as compared to 1.5 % of those without reading disorders. The maternal complications most highly associated with reading disorders in the boys were preeclampsia, hypertensive disease, and bleeding during pregnancy. All of these are apt to lead to fetal anoxia. The prevention of dyslexia and of related functional nervous disorders therefore depends to a significant extent on the prevention of these complications and on improved methods of treating them when they occur.