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

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.

International Adoption of Children with Special Needs in Spain

“…Upon arrival in the new home country, the screening of infectious diseases must be individualized and tailored to the origin and previous living conditions. Most parasitoses are linked to poor hygienic-sanitary conditions and can be treated [ 2 , 29 ]; however, intestinal parasitosis in early childhood has been associated with long-term nutritional problems and neurocognitive development [ 30 ]. Congenital infections were uncommon: out of the six children previously diagnosed with congenital infection, only one case of correctly treated congenital syphilis was confirmed.…”

The Fire Under the Ash: Parasitic infections as potential risk factors for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children

“…It was noted that nearly all children are physiologically vulnerable to parasitic infections due to poor hygiene, nutritional de ciencies and immunosuppression especially Cryptosporidium parvum (C. parvum), Giardia lamblia (G. lamblia) and Entamoeba histolytica (E. histolytica) infections (Sucheta et al 2021). Although associations of ADHD with multiple infections have been con rmed in few studies, little is known about the relation between parasitic infections and ADHD (Heikkilä et al 2021). Parasitic infections have long been implicated in various neurological symptoms.…”