There is limited research on the effects of antibiotic use during pregnancy on neurodevelopmental outcomes of offspring in early childhood. The aim of this study was to investigate associations between antibiotic use during early pregnancy and neurodevelopmental outcomes, both behavioral and cognitive, in the offspring during early childhood. This thesis examined a longitudinal study of 570 mother-child pairs where prenatal exposures and at least one neurodevelopment outcome assessment were recorded. An interview was conducted with mothers on average one year after delivery to collect information on prenatal exposures. Neurodevelopmental outcomes were assessed between the ages 5–11 years using the cognitive-based outcomes of Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III) and the Beery-Buktenica Test of Visual Motor Integration-Fifth Edition (VMI-5) and behavioral-based outcomes of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Teacher Report Form (TRF). Adjusted mean differences (adjMD) in outcome measures were calculated between mothers reporting antibiotics use and mothers reporting treated infections. Antibiotic use during pregnancy was not significantly associated with the two cognitive measures but was associated with increased total behavioral problems reported by mothers (adjMD: 2.60; CI: 0.50, 4.69) and teachers (adjMD 2.60; 95% CI 0.44, 4.76). Overall, antibiotics use during pregnancy was not associated with differences in childhood cognition but may be associated with greater behavior problems.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/40698 |
| Date | 07 May 2020 |
| Creators | Gamache, Tressa |
| Contributors | Parker, Samantha E. |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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