Incubator babies less depressed as adults

MONTREAL, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Babies who receive incubator care after birth are two to three times less likely to suffer depression as adults, Canadian and British researchers said.

Scientists from the Universite de Montreal and Sainte Justine Hospital Research Center in collaboration with researchers from McGill University and the Douglas Hospital Research Center, all in Montreal, and the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College in London studied a subsample of 1,212 children recruited from a longitudinal study began in 1986.

Children were recruited from Quebec kindergartens and facts on birth condition, obstetrical complications and incubator care were obtained through hospital medical records. Participants received psychiatric assessments when they were age 15 and 21.

The study published, in the journal Psychiatry Research, found that of the 16.5 percent babies placed in incubators, 5 percent suffered major depression by age 21. However, among participants who were not placed in incubators, 9 percent developed depression -- the average rate for general society.

The research team said that direct and indirect stimuli -- not just incubators -- could decrease depression. Children who received incubator care as babies may receive more emotional support from their mothers throughout childhood because they were perceived as more vulnerable, the researchers said.