ArticleEBioMedicine2018
Plasma Concentrations of Long Chain N-3 Fatty Acids in Early and Mid-Pregnancy and Risk of Early Preterm Birth.
Article in EBioMedicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 32 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Is there a maternal blood biomarker that can predict spontaneous preterm birth prior to labour onset? A systematic review.PloS one · 2022Pooled it
- Supplementation of Omega 3 during Pregnancy and the Risk of Preterm Birth: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- Fish oil-derived fatty acids during pregnancy and risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in children at age 10 - A randomized controlled trial.Translational psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Supplementation of EPA and DHA in pregnant women with type 1 diabetes mellitus.Annals of medicine · 2021Trial
- Associations between maternal fish intakes, maternal and cord PUFA and longitudinal measures of child weight at birth, 20 months and at 7 and 13 years of age.The British journal of nutrition · 2026Article
- Maternal urinary metabolomic signatures preceding spontaneous preterm birth: A pilot study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Circulating microRNAs in Body Fluid: "Fingerprint" RNA Snippets Deeply Impact Reproductive Biology.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) · 2025Review
- The Intake of Omega-3 Fatty Acids, the Omega-3 Index in Pregnant Women, and Their Correlations with Gestational Length and Newborn Birth Weight.Nutrients · 2024Article
- DHA supplementation and pregnancy complications.Journal of translational medicine · 2023Review
- Development and internal validation of a non-invasive clinical tool to predict sufficient omega-3 levels in early pregnancy.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2023Observational
- Association of serum docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid levels with dietary intakes and supplement use during pregnancy: a prospective observational study.Journal of nutritional science · 2023Observational
- Association between maternal fish consumption during pregnancy and preterm births: the Japan Environment and Children's Study.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2023Article
- Article
- Evidence based recommendations for an optimal prenatal supplement for women in the US: vitamins and related nutrients.Maternal health, neonatology and perinatology · 2022Review
- Maternal and Neonatal Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Intake and Risk of Neurodevelopmental Impairment in Premature Infants.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Review
- Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC-PUFA) status in severe preeclampsia and preterm birth: a cross sectional study.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Higher dose docosahexaenoic acid supplementation during pregnancy and early preterm birth: A randomised, double-blind, adaptive-design superiority trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2021Article
- Perinatal Dietary Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Brain Development, Role in Neurodevelopmental Disorders.Nutrients · 2021Review
- Low Omega-3 intake is associated with high rates of depression and preterm birth on the country level.Scientific reports · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
14 authors at 7 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFish oil supplementation has been shown to delay spontaneous delivery, but the levels and clinical significance remain uncertain. We examined the association between plasma fatty acids quantified in pregnancy and subsequent risk of early preterm birth.
methodsIn a case-control design nested in the Danish National Birth Cohort, we identified 376 early preterm cases (<34 gestational weeks, excluding preeclampsia cases) and 348 random controls. Plasma eicosapentaenoic acid plus docosahexaenoic acid (EPA+DHA% of total fatty acids), were measured twice in pregnancy, at gestation weeks 9 and 25 (medians). Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI's) for associations between EPA+DHA and early preterm risk were estimated by logistic regression, adjusted for the woman's age, height, pre-pregnancy BMI, parity, smoking, and socioeconomic factors. Hypotheses and analytical plan were defined and archived a priori.
findingsAnalysis using restricted cubic splines of the mean of 1st and 2nd sample measurements showed a strong and significant non-linear association (p < 0.0001) in which the risk of early preterm birth steeply increased when EPA+DHA concentrations were lower than 2% and flattened out at higher levels. Women in the lowest quintile (EPA+DHA < 1.6%) had 10.27 times (95% confidence interval 6.80-15.79, p < 0.0001) increased risk, and women in the second lowest quintile had 2.86 (95% CI 1.79-4.59, p < 0.0001) times increased risk, when compared to women in the three aggregated highest quintiles (EPA+DHA ≥ 1.8%).
interpretationLow plasma concentration of EPA and DHA during pregnancy is a strong risk factor for subsequent early preterm birth in Danish women.
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Registered trials
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.