ArticlePaediatric and perinatal epidemiology2019
Good practices for the design, analysis, and interpretation of observational studies on birth spacing and perinatal health outcomes.
Article in Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology, 2019. 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 34 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Short interpregnancy interval can lead to adverse pregnancy outcomes: A meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Short interpregnancy intervals and adverse perinatal outcomes in high-resource settings: An updated systematic review.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2019Pooled it
- Interpregnancy interval and maternal postpartum depression and anxiety: findings from the APrON cohort.European journal of public health · 2026Article
- Short Interdelivery Interval and Neonatal Acid-Base Status, Postpartum Anemia, and Postnatal Depression: A Retrospective Cohort Study with Within-Mother Sensitivity Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Inter-pregnancy interval after caesarean section and subsequent pregnancy outcomes in New South Wales. A data linkage cohort protocol.MethodsX · 2026Article
- Article
- Maternal Age Differences in Interpregnancy Interval and Preterm Birth Associations Accounting for Multiple Epidemiologic Biases.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2025Article
- Non-linear association between interpregnancy interval after vaginal delivery and singleton preterm birth: a retrospective cohort study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Pre-conception clinical risk factors differ between spontaneous and indicated preterm birth in a densely phenotyped EHR cohort.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Social and geographical disparities in adverse birth outcomes in Alaska: a retrospective cohort study.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Birth Spacing and Child Maltreatment: Population-Level Estimates for North Carolina.Child maltreatment · 2024Article
- Interpregnancy interval and adverse perinatal outcomes: A within-individual comparative method.Health science reports · 2024Article
- Association between short birth spacing and child malnutrition in Bangladesh: a propensity score matching approach.BMJ paediatrics open · 2024Article
- Very Early-Life Risk Factors for Developing Dementia: Evidence From Full Population Registers.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2023Article
- The 'ins' and 'outs' of interpregnancy interval effects: Who contributes, and does it matter?Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2023Article
- Weight gain in pregnancy and infant birthweight after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic: an interrupted time series analysis.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2023Article
- Interpregnancy interval and adverse pregnancy outcomes among pregnancies following miscarriages or induced abortions in Norway (2008-2016): A cohort study.PLoS medicine · 2022Article
- Interpregnancy Interval and Birth Outcomes: A Propensity Matching Study in the California Population.Maternal and child health journal · 2022Article
- The confounder matrix: A tool to assess confounding bias in systematic reviews of observational studies of etiology.Research synthesis methods · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
21 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMeta-analyses of observational studies have shown that women with a shorter interpregnancy interval (the time from delivery to start of a subsequent pregnancy) are more likely to experience adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as preterm delivery or small for gestational age birth, than women who space their births further apart. However, the studies used to inform these estimates have methodological shortcomings.
methodsIn this commentary, we summarise the discussions of an expert workgroup describing good practices for the design, analysis, and interpretation of observational studies of interpregnancy interval and adverse perinatal health outcomes.
resultsWe argue that inferences drawn from research in this field will be improved by careful attention to elements such as: (a) refining the research question to clarify whether the goal is to estimate a causal effect vs describe patterns of association; (b) using directed acyclic graphs to represent potential causal networks and guide the analytic plan of studies seeking to estimate causal effects; (c) assessing how miscarriages and pregnancy terminations may have influenced interpregnancy interval classifications; (d) specifying how key factors such as previous pregnancy loss, pregnancy intention, and maternal socio-economic position will be considered; and (e) examining if the association between interpregnancy interval and perinatal outcome differs by factors such as maternal age.
conclusionThis commentary outlines the discussions of this recent expert workgroup, and describes several suggested principles for study design and analysis that could mitigate many potential sources of bias.
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