The risks of many diseases are linked to birth order, study finds

Healthcare The risks of many diseases are linked to birth order, study finds Comments: by Ashley N. Soriano and Andrew Dorn - 08/05/26 3:07 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Ashley N. Soriano and Andrew Dorn - 08/05/26 3:07 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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(NewsNation) — The order in which a person was born may have an impact on their risk for developing disorders or diseases, a new study has found.

Those born first carry a higher risk for neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism and ADHD, and food allergies, according to a new study of more than 10 million individuals published in Nature. Second-born children, per the research, carry excess risk for substance abuse and gastrointestinal issues,

The researchers tested more than 569 diseases to find out which ones, if any, were more or less likely between first-borns and second-borns.

Neuropsychiatric issues were more common among first-borns, while digestive and musculoskeletal domains shifted toward second-borns.

The study didn’t include uninsured families or those on Medicaid, which means the data may be skewed, Julia M. Rohrer, who studies birth order at Leipzig University in Germany and was not involved in the study, told Scientific American.

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