Identifying children at high somatic risk: possible long‐term effects on the parents' views of their own health and current life situation

Abstract

Neonatal identification of children at high somatic risk due to inherited .alpha.1 antitrypsin deficiency (ATD) was hypothesized to have had negative long-term effects on the parents'' views of their own health and current life situation. The parents of 61 children with ATD were followed up and studied by interviews about 5 yr after the child''s ATD was identified and compared with demographically similar parents of 61 control children without ATD. No negative effect was found on mothers'' or fathers'' views of their current life situation or the fathers'' own health. As compared with controls, ATD-group mothers reported significantly poorer mental and physical health during the past year, which was interpreted as a consequence of the stress associated with the identification of the child''s ATD.