Am J Psychiatry 1980; 137:791-796
Copyright © 1980 by American Psychiatric Association
Newborn minor physical anomalies and problem behavior at age three
C Burg, JL Rapoport, LS Bartley, PO Quinn and P Timmins
The authors followed up 136 three-year-olds who had high or low scores for
minor physical anomalies of face, head, hands, and feet at birth.
Interviews with parents revealed that high-anomaly infants were somewhat
more likely to have problem behaviors at age three; this was particularly
true for hyperactive-impulsive behavior for boys. Preschool teachers'
ratings of hyperactivity, however, did not show a significant relationship
to anomaly score. The results suggest some congenital contributors to
behavior disorders of childhood, but the relationship between anomalies and
problem behavior is weak and limits clinical usefulness of this measure
when used alone for identifying a high-risk population.
