Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30055422›Full record

ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2018

It's the mother!: How assumptions about the causal primacy of maternal effects influence research on the developmental origins of health and disease.

Gemma C Sharp, Deborah A Lawlor, Sarah S Richardson

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 60 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
60citing papers in PubMed, 9 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

60 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  5. Body mass index in parents and their adult offspring: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2024
    Pooled it
  6. Pooled it
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  9. Maternal and early-life area-level characteristics and childhood adiposity: A systematic review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2019
    Pooled it
  10. Trial
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Bridging maternal effects and epitranscriptomics: A novel perspective in developmental biology.Developmental dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists · 2026
    Review
  14. Article
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  17. Article
  18. The limits of preconception care for global health.Sexual and reproductive health matters · 2025
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Gemma C SharpMRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol Dental School, University of Bristol, United Kingdom. Electronic address: gemma.sharp@bristol.ac.uk.
Deborah A LawlorMRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Population Health Science, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, United Kingdom.
Sarah S RichardsonDepartment of the History of Science, Harvard University, USA.

Funding

Metabolomic and Epigenomic Mechanisms in Developmental Overnutrition.R01DK103246 · NIDDK · UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL · PI LAWLOR, DEBORAH ANNE · 2014 to 2018
$2.2M
Medical Research Council G9815508Medical Research Council MC_UU_12013/5NIDDK NIH HHS R01 DK103246
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Research on the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) has traditionally focused on how maternal exposures around the time of pregnancy might influence offspring health and risk of disease. We acknowledge that for some exposures this is likely to be correct, but argue that the focus on maternal pregnancy effects also reflects implicit and deeply-held assumptions that 1) causal early life exposures are primarily transmitted via maternal traits or exposures, 2) maternal exposures around the time of pregnancy and early infancy are particularly important, and 3) other factors, such as paternal factors and postnatal exposures in later life, have relatively little impact in comparison. These implicit assumptions about the "causal primacy" of maternal pregnancy effects set the agenda for DOHaD research and, through a looping effect, are reinforced rather than tested. We propose practical strategies to redress this imbalance through maintaining a critical perspective about these assumptions.

Indexed as

Maternal InheritanceFemaleHumansMaternal ExposurePregnancyPrenatal Exposure Delayed EffectsResearch DesignCausal inferenceDevelopmental originsDOHaDEpidemiologyMaternal effectsPaternal effectsPrenatalResearch translation

Identifiers

PMID30055422
PMCPMC6137073

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.