90 adults the same age but born at a normal weight.
Overall, the study found, the preterm group was more than twice as likely to have an anxiety disorder, depression or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The risks were particularly elevated among adults who’d been exposed to prenatal steroids. Their odds of social phobia, for instance, were six times higher, versus the normal birth weight group, while their risk of ADHD was about 10 times higher.
Still, Van Lieshout stressed, those relative risks sound more troubling than they are.
Of 84 adults in the preterm group, only eight had ADHD, for example. Similar numbers had social phobia, general anxiety or major depression.
“The relative risks are quite high,” Van Lieshout said. “But it’s certainly not a sure thing that these problems will occur.”
The fact is, he said, many adults who were born very preterm are living happy, healthy lives.
What’s more, prenatal and newborn care has made big advances since the people in this study were born. So, it’s “entirely possible,” Van Lieshout said, that the long-term outlook for preemies born in recent years will be different.
As for why adults in this study faced higher mental health risks, there could be a number of