Intestinal parasites may be associated with later behavioral problems in internationally adopted children

PLoS One. 2021 Jan 25;16(1):e0245786. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245786. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Aim: At arrival in new home country, internationally adopted children often have intestinal parasites. International adoptees also exhibit more behavioral problems than their biological peers. We examined whether intestinal parasite infections in international adoptees on arrival in Finland are associated with their later behavioral and emotional problems.

Methods: Data for this study were sourced from the Finnish Adoption Study (FinAdo) based on parental questionnaires for all internationally adopted children under 18 years (n = 1450) who arrived in Finland from 1985 to 2007. A total of 1293 families provided sufficient information on the adoptee's background, parasitic status on arrival, and behavioral symptoms at the median time of 5 years after arrival (mean age = 7.8 years). Behavioral and emotional disorders were evaluated with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Statistical analyses were conducted using linear regression.

Results: Of the 1293 families, parents of 206 adoptive children reported intestinal parasites in their adopted children on arrival. Parasite-infected children had subsequently higher CBCL problem scores than the children without parasites (p < 0.001). The association between intestinal parasites and later behavioral problems was stronger than that between intestinal parasites and any other factors measured in this study, except disability.

Limitations: The control group was naturally provided by the adopted children without parasite infections, but we could not compare the adopted children to non-adopted children without a defined parasite infection. We were unable to specify the effects associated with a specific parasite type. It was not possible either to include multiple environmental factors that could have been associated with behavioral problems in the models, which indicated only modest explanatory values.

Conclusions: In this study, intestinal parasite infections in early childhood may be associated with children's later psychological wellbeing, even in children who move to a country with a low prevalence of parasites. Our findings may support further developments pertaining to the gut-brain theory.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adoption / psychology*
  • Behavioral Symptoms / parasitology*
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Internationality*
  • Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic / psychology*
  • Male

Grants and funding

AH: The Foundation of Pediatric Research, Finland (personal grant, no specific grant number), https://www.lastentautientutkimussaatio.fi HL: Finland’s Slot Machine Association (RAY) (personal grant, no specific grant number), https://www.stea.fi/web/en/frontpage; The Gyllenberg Association (personal grant, no specific grant number), https://gyllenbergs.fi; the Foundation for Pediatric Research, Finland (personal grant, no specific grant number), www.lastentautientutkimussaatio.fi; EVO Grant from Turku University Hospital (personal grant, no specific grant number), https://www.utu.fi/fi/tutkimus/tutkimusrahoituksen-tuki; The Tiukula foundation (personal grant, no specific grant number); the Yrjö Jahnsson Association (personal grant, no specific grant number) https://www.yjs.fi; Finnish Cultural Foundation, Varsinais-Suomi Regional fund (personal grant, no specific grant number) https://skr.fi/en received consultation fees from the following national adoption organizations in Finland: Interpedia, Save the Children Association Finland., and the international adoption service of the City of Helsinki. JS: The Tiukula Foundation (personal grant, no specific grant number); Finland’s Slot Machine Association (RAY) (personal grant, no specific grant number), https://www.stea.fi/web/en/frontpage The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.