Children born to women who have exhibited symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder during pregnancy are also at risk of being affected.
This indicates a study by researchers from Denmark, Australia and Kosovo. It writes Kristeligt Dagblad.
The study is based on a study of 120 children between the ages of 6 and 17, who were born to 117 mothers in Kosovo.
The study should be seen in the light of the fact that thousands of women were subjected to sexual violence and torture during the 1990s civil war in the former Yugoslavia.
72 percent of the children’s mothers were assessed via a questionnaire to have had PTSD during pregnancy, while all women developed PTSD later.
The children had blood samples taken and their so-called epigenetics were examined. That is, how the children’s genes were affected.
– We could see that children whose mothers had PTSD during pregnancy had increased stress hormone in the blood, and that there was a change in their genes for, among other things, the stress hormone cortisol regulation.
– The children were on constant alert, and this may increase their risk of developing mental disorders, says human biologist and PhD. Line Hjort from Rigshospitalet, who is one of the researchers behind the study, to Kristeligt Dagblad.
The study must be followed up by a study that will show whether therapy can help the children in question to a lower stress level.