Epidemiology

Cognitive, emotional, and social functioning of preschoolers with attention deficit hyperactivity problems

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is associated with deficits in different functional domains. It remains unclear if deficits in different domains are equally strong in early childhood, and which deficits are specific to ADHD. Here, we …

The associations between maternal and child diet quality and child ADHD -- findings from a large Norwegian pregnancy cohort study

Background. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder. Effective long-term treatment options are limited, which warrants increased focus on potential modifiable risk factors. The aim of this study was …

The effect of special educational assistance in early childhood education and care on psycho-social difficulties in elementary school children

Three to seven percent of pre-schoolers have developmental problems or child psychiatric disorders. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) indicate that interventions in early childhood education and care improve long-term outcomes of children from …

Effects of stimulant medication and special education on school performance

Estimating effects of special medication and special education on school performance using observational data

ADHD risk factors

Epidemiologial research about potential risk factors for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Causal inference from observational data

Estimating treatment effects from observational data

Prenatal phthalate exposures and executive function in preschool children

BACKGROUND. Prenatal phthalate exposure has been linked with altered neurodevelopment, including externalizing behaviors and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the implicated metabolite, neurobehavioral endpoint, and child sex …

Prenatal exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances and associations with symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and cognitive functions in preschool children

BACKGROUND. Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are persistent organic pollutants that are suspected to be neurodevelopmental toxicants, but epidemiological evidence on neurodevelopmental effects of PFAS exposure is inconsistent. We investigated the …

Estimating the Strength of Associations Between Prenatal Diet Quality and Child Developmental Outcomes. Results From a Large Prospective Pregnancy Cohort Study

Our aim in this study was to estimate the strength of associations between prenatal diet quality and child behavioral, language, and motor functions in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (1999-2008). We created a prenatal diet quality index …

Bias from self selection and loss to follow-up in prospective cohort studies

Self-selection into prospective cohort studies and loss to follow-up can cause biased exposure-outcome association estimates. Previous investigations illustrated that such biases can be small in large prospective cohort studies. The structural …