ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2019
Preterm birth in evolutionary context: a predictive adaptive response?
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of genetic association studies on the susceptibility of preterm birth in Asia.Molecular genetics and genomics : MGG · 2025Pooled it
- Maternal-fetal conflict and the timing of birth.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2025Review
- Epigenetic signature of very low birth weight in young adult life.Pediatric research · 2025Article
- The pandemic preterm paradox: a test of competing explanations.American journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Individual and collective contribution of antenatal psychosocial distress conditions and preterm birth in Pakistani women.PloS one · 2023Article
- Article
- Hurricane Michael and Adverse Birth Outcomes in the Florida Panhandle: Analysis of Vital Statistics Data.Disaster medicine and public health preparedness · 2022Article
- Choline acts during preimplantation development of the bovine embryo to program postnatal growth and alter muscle DNA methylation.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2021Article
- Prevalence of Preterm Birth Rate During COVID-19 Lockdown in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Riyadh.Cureus · 2021Article
- Stress and Metabolomics for Prediction of Spontaneous Preterm Birth: A Prospective Nested Case-Control Study in a Tertiary Hospital.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2021Article
- Maternal exposure to Wenchuan earthquake and prolonged risk of offspring birth outcomes: a natural experiment study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2020Article
- The pregnant myometrium is epigenetically activated at contractility-driving gene loci prior to the onset of labor in mice.PLoS biology · 2020Article
- Dysregulation of bile acids increases the risk for preterm birth in pregnant women.Nature communications · 2020Article
- Plasma Adipokines Profile in Prepubertal Children with a History of Prematurity or Extrauterine Growth Restriction.Nutrients · 2020Article
- The Association Between Coffee and Tea Consumption During Pregnancy and Preterm Delivery: Case-Control Study.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2020Article
- Adiponectin links maternal metabolism to uterine contractility.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2019Article
- Developing differences: early-life effects and evolutionary medicine.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Preterm birth is a significant public health problem worldwide, leading to substantial mortality in the newborn period, and a considerable burden of complications longer term, for affected infants and their carers. The fact that it is so common, and rates vary between different populations, raising the question of whether in some circumstances it might be an adaptive trait. In this review, we outline some of the evolutionary explanations put forward for preterm birth. We specifically address the hypothesis of the predictive adaptive response, setting it in the context of the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, and explore the predictions that this hypothesis makes for the potential causes and consequences of preterm birth. We describe how preterm birth can be triggered by a range of adverse environmental factors, including nutrition, stress and relative socioeconomic status. Examining the literature for any associated longer-term phenotypic changes, we find no strong evidence for a marked temporal shift in the reproductive life-history trajectory, but more persuasive evidence for a re-programming of the cardiovascular and endocrine system, and a range of effects on neurodevelopment. Distinguishing between preterm birth as a predictive, rather than immediate adaptive response will depend on the demonstration of a positive effect of these alterations in developmental trajectories on reproductive fitness. This article is part of the theme issue 'Developing differences: early-life effects and evolutionary medicine'.
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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.