Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33150327›Full record

ArticleEClinicalMedicine2020

Parental mental health before and during pregnancy and offspring birth outcomes: A 20-year preconception cohort of maternal and paternal exposure.

Elizabeth A Spry, Claire A Wilson, Melissa Middleton, Margarita Moreno-Betancur, Lex W Doyle, Louise M Howard, Anthony J Hannan, Mary E Wlodek, Jeanie Ly Cheong, Lindsey A Hines and 4 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in EClinicalMedicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
17citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
2.5field-weighted citation impact, top 10% of its field
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

17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. The Preconception Health and Health Behaviors of Australian First-Time Fathers: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health education & behavior : the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education · 2026
    Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Early pregnancy depressive symptoms and severe maternal morbidity.American journal of obstetrics & gynecology MFM · 2026
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
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

14 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.

Elizabeth A SpryCentre for Social and Early Emotional Development, School of Psychology, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
Claire A WilsonSection of Women's Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Melissa MiddletonMurdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
Margarita Moreno-BetancurMurdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
Lex W DoyleMurdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
Louise M HowardSection of Women's Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Anthony J HannanFlorey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Mary E WlodekUniversity of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Jeanie Ly CheongMurdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
Lindsey A HinesPopulation Health Science Institute, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
Carolyn CoffeyMurdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
Stephanie BrownMurdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
Craig A OlssonCentre for Social and Early Emotional Development, School of Psychology, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
George C PattonMurdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
University of Melbourne · AUMurdoch Children's Research Institute · AUKing's College London · GBRoyal Women's Hospital · AUSouth London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust · GBUniversity of Bristol · GB

Funding

Medical Research Council MR/P019293/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPreterm birth (PTB) and small for gestational age (SGA) are increasingly prevalent, with major consequences for health and development into later life. There is emerging evidence that some risk processes begin before pregnancy. We report on associations between maternal and paternal common mental disorders (CMD) before and during pregnancy and offspring PTB and SGA.

methods398 women with 609 infants and 267 men with 421 infants were assessed repeatedly for CMD symptoms before pregnancy between age 14 and 29 and during pregnancy. Associations between preconception and antenatal CMD symptoms and offspring gestational age/PTB and size for gestational age/SGA were estimated using linear and Poisson regression.

findingsIn men, persistent preconception CMD across adolescence and young adulthood predicted offspring PTB after adjustment for ethnicity, education, BMI and adolescent substance use (adjusted RR 7·0, 95% CI 1·8,26·8), corresponding to a population attributable fraction of 31% of preterm births. In women, antenatal CMD symptoms predicted offspring PTB (adjusted RR 4·4, 95% CI 1·4,14·1). There was little evidence of associations with SGA.

interpretationThis first report of an association between paternal preconception mental health and offspring gestational age, while requiring replication in larger samples, complements earlier work on stress in animals, and further strengthens the case for expanding preconception mental health care to both men and women.

fundingNational Health and Medical Research Council (Australia), Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, Australian Rotary Health, Colonial Foundation, Perpetual Trustees, Financial Markets Foundation for Children (Australia), Royal Children's Hospital Foundation, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Australian Research Council.

Indexed as

AdolescentBirth outcomesCohort studiesMental disordersPaternal mental healthPreconceptionPregnancyPreterm birthSmall for gestational age

Identifiers

PMID33150327
PMCPMC7599306
OpenAlexW3092172794

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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.