A new study has found that people who give birth to babies weighing less than 5.5 pounds may face a higher risk of memory and thinking problems as they get older.
The research was published in the June 12, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study does not prove that having a baby with low birth weight causes memory loss, but it does show a link between the two.
Past studies have already shown that giving birth to a baby with low weight is linked to heart disease and high blood pressure later in life. Now, this new research suggests it may also be a sign of brain health issues in the future.
The study involved over 15,000 women, with an average age of 62. All had given birth at least once. About 8% of them—1,224 people—had given birth to at least one baby who weighed less than 5.5 pounds after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Participants answered questions about their pregnancy history, including any complications and the birth weights of their babies. They also took several memory and thinking tests.
The researchers combined scores from two types of tests: one that measured speed and attention, and another that measured learning and working memory. Higher scores meant better memory and thinking.
On average, people who had low-birth-weight deliveries scored slightly lower on these tests. The difference was about the same as being one to two years older in terms of brain health. Specifically, those with low-birth-weight deliveries scored -0.06 lower on speed and attention, and -0.05 lower on learning and working memory.
Even after researchers accounted for other factors like age, smoking, and high blood pressure—which could affect both birth outcomes and brain health—the results stayed the same. The same was true when researchers excluded people who had premature births, twins or triplets, or high blood pressure during pregnancy.
The study also found that the more low-birth-weight babies a person had, the lower their scores were on the memory and thinking tests.
Dr. Diana C. Soria-Contreras, the study’s lead author from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said that low-birth-weight deliveries might be a warning sign of possible memory issues later in life. She added that more research is needed to confirm these results and to see if women with this history should be screened for memory problems as they age.
One limitation of the study is that most of the participants were non-Hispanic white women, so the results may not apply to people from different racial or ethnic backgrounds.
The research was supported by several U.S. government health organizations, including the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Aging, and the Office of Research on Women’s Health.
If you care about dementia, please read studies about Early heart rhythm problem linked to higher dementia risk and findings of Green leafy vegetables may help reduce Alzheimer’s risk.
For more about dementia, please read studies about Research shows an important cause of frontotemporal dementia and findings of New way to detect Lewy body disease early, a leading cause of dementia.
The study is published in Neurology.
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