Premature birth may increase the risk for serious mental illness in adolescence and young adulthood, a recent study reports.
最近一项研究发现，早产可能会增加个体在青春期和成年早期患精神疾病的几率。
Researchers reviewed birth and hospital admissions records of more than 1.3 million Swedes born from 1973 to 1985. They found that compared with those born at term, young adults born very premature - at less than 32 weeks' gestation - were more than twice as likely to be hospitalized for schizophrenia or delusional disorders, almost three times as likely for major depression, and more than seven times as likely for bipolar illness.
研究人员查阅了出生于1973年至1985年间的130万瑞典人出生和医院入院记录。他们发现，过早出生的年轻人——不足32周妊娠期就出生，患精神分裂症、妄想症的几率是那些足月出生的人的两倍，患抑郁症的几率差不多是足月出生人的三倍，而患躁郁症的几率则是足月出生人的七倍多。
The lead author, Chiara Nosarti, a senior lecturer in neuroimaging at Kings College London, emphasized that while the increase in relative risk is substantial, the absolute increase in numbers of people with the illnesses is not.
该研究的主要负责人，奇亚拉?诺莎提，是伦敦国王学院神经成像学的高级讲师。她强调说，虽然患病相对几率的增加是实质性的，但患病人数的绝对增加却并不是。
"Despite these findings," she said, "the majority of people born preterm have no psychiatric problems, and the number of people hospitalized with psychiatric disease is very low."
"尽管有着这样的调查结果，"她说，"但其实大部分早产的人并没有精神疾病，因精神疾病入院就医的人也很少。"
Still, she added, "routine screening may help to detect early signs of illness."
但是，她又说道："例行的检查能够帮助发现疾病的早期症状。"
The risk also increased for people born late preterm, or 32 to 36 weeks' gestation, but not as sharply. They were 60 percent more likely to be admitted for schizophrenia or delusional disorders, 34 percent more likely for depressive disorder, and about twice as likely to be hospitalized for bipolar illness.
晚期早产儿，也就是经过32到36周的妊娠期出生的，患病几率也会增加，但不像早期早产儿那么明显。他们患精神分裂症或妄想症的几率比足月出生的要高60%，患抑郁症的几率高34%，而患躁郁症的几率是那些足月出生的2倍。
The researchers acknowledge that the findings could be affected by factors they could not control for, including unmeasured sociodemographic factors, a family history of preterm delivery, maternal substance abuse or smoking, and bacterial or viral infections.
研究者们也承认调查结果可能会受一些非可控因素的影响，包括不可测量的社会人口因素，早产的家族历史，产妇药物滥用，抽烟以及细菌或是病毒性感染。
But experts not involved in the study were impressed with the work. "This is an important, expertly executed epidemiological study," said Catherine Monk, an associate professor of clinical psychology at Columbia who conducts research in perinatal psychiatry and neuroscience. "It provides compelling evidence that our mental health trajectories are initiated early in development."
但那些并没参与这项研究的专家们则是对这份研究印象深刻。"这是一项重要的、成熟的流行病学的研究。"哥伦比亚大学研究围产期精神病学和神经科学的临床心理学副教授凯瑟琳?蒙克说道，"这项研究提供了大量的证据，证明了我们的心理健康轨迹开始于人最初的发展阶段。"
Dr. Monk, too, noted that the study did not mean that being born prematurely inevitably leads to mental illness.
蒙克博士也注意到，这项研究并不意味着过早的出生一定不可避免地会导致精神疾病。
"The risk found is still low in an absolute sense, and finally it, too, can be modified by other factors in the child's development," she said.
"从绝对意义上来讲，患病几率仍然是很小，并且，患病几率也能被个体儿童时期发展中的其他因素所改变。"
Dr. Bradley Peterson, director of the Center for Developmental Neuropsychiatry at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, said the size of the sample was "stunning" and "allows very strong levels of confidence that the findings are not spurious."
纽约州精神病学研究所发展神经精神病学中心主任布兰得利?彼得森博士指出该项研究的研究对象的数目"惊人"，"在很大程度上让人们相信这项研究的调查结果是真实可靠的。"