Aim: Being born small for gestational age (SGA) at term increases the risk of adverse health outcomes. We examined whether self-reported mental health differed between adults born SGA and non-SGA at term and could be used to screen for psychiatric diagnoses.
Methods: We used the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire to gather data from 68 participants born SGA and 88 non-SGA controls at a mean age of 26.5 years. Group differences were analysed by linear regression. We calculated the area under the curve and the sensitivity, specificity and predictive values for psychiatric diagnoses.
Results: The mean total difficulties score was 1.9 (95% confidence interval 0.4-3.5) points higher for participants born SGA. They also reported more internalising and emotional problems (p < 0.05). The areas under the curve were 0.82 and 0.68 in the SGA and control groups, respectively. Among participants born SGA, the 90th percentile cut-off had a sensitivity of 0.38, a specificity of 0.93 and positive and negative predictive values of 0.75 and 0.71. The 80th percentile cut-off had higher sensitivity and lower specificity.
Conclusion: Adults born SGA reported more mental health difficulties than non-SGA controls. The low sensitivity using the 90th percentile cut-off suggests that a lower cut-off should be considered.
Keywords: discriminative ability; mental health; psychiatric morbidity; small for gestational age; strengths and difficulties questionnaire.
© 2024 The Authors. Acta Paediatrica published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Foundation Acta Paediatrica.