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Pregnant moms, breathe easy. A large binational study found that while maternal flu infection during pregnancy appeared linked to neuropsychiatric disorders in children, that association disappeared when comparing siblings — suggesting shared family factors, not the flu itself, may be the real driver. Flu vaccination recommendations during pregnancy remain unchanged.
A major binational study published in JAMA Network Open is offering reassurance to expectant mothers: catching the flu during pregnancy likely doesn't directly cause neuropsychiatric disorders in children. While population-level analyses of over 2.7 million mother-child pairs from South Korea and Japan did show a modest association between maternal flu and conditions like ADHD and OCD in offspring, those links vanished when researchers compared siblings — children born to the same mother, some during flu-affected pregnancies and some not.
The sibling comparison is key here. When you control for shared family environment and genetics, the association fades — pointing to familial factors, not the flu itself, as the likely explanation. Researchers caution, however, that the sibling analyses had smaller sample sizes, so this shouldn't be read as a definitive "no link exists" either.
By the Numbers:
Why it matters: This study reinforces that flu vaccination during pregnancy remains safe and recommended — and that modest observational associations shouldn't fuel unnecessary anxiety among expectant mothers or prompt changes in clinical practice.
