ArticleAmerican journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council2022
Associations between early marriage and preterm delivery: Evidence from lowland Nepal.
Article in American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Early Marriage, Preterm Birth, and School Dropout: An Intergenerational Cycle of Risk?American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2025Pooled it
- The relationship between earthquake risk perception and sleep problems in pregnant women.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Exploring Prevalence and Determinants of Early Marriage Through a Cross-Sectional Study: Insights From Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2022.Health science reports · 2025Article
- The Maternal Capital Hypothesis: Giving Mothers Central Place in Evolutionary Perspectives on Developmental Plasticity and Health.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2025Review
- Generational trends in education and marriage norms in rural India: evidence from the Pune Maternal Nutrition Study.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2024Article
- Like mother like daughter, the role of low human capital in intergenerational cycles of disadvantage: the Pune Maternal Nutrition Study.Frontiers in global women's health · 2024Article
- Article
- "Can't live willingly": A thematic synthesis of qualitative evidence exploring how early marriage and early pregnancy affect experiences of pregnancy in South Asia.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Preterm delivery and its associated factors among mothers in Bangladesh: survey in Rajshahi district.BMJ open · 2022Article
- The perinatal epidemiology of child and adolescent marriage in Brazil, 2011-2018.SSM - population health · 2022Article
- Associations between early marriage and preterm delivery: Evidence from lowland Nepal.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2022Article
- Associations of age at marriage and first pregnancy with maternal nutritional status in Nepal.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesPreterm delivery (<37 weeks gestation) is the largest cause of child mortality worldwide. Marriage and pregnancy during adolescence have been associated with an increased risk of preterm delivery. We investigate independent associations of age at marriage and age at first pregnancy with preterm delivery in a cohort of women from rural lowland Nepal.
methodsWe analyzed data from 17 974 women in the Low Birth Weight South Asia Trial. Logistic regression models tested associations of age at marriage and age at first pregnancy with preterm delivery, for primigravida (n = 6 243) and multigravida (n = 11 731) women. Models were adjusted for maternal education, maternal caste, and household asset score.
resultsNinety percent of participants had married at <18 years and 58% had their first pregnancy at <18 years. 20% of participants delivered preterm. Primigravida participants married at ≤14 years had higher odds of preterm delivery than those married ≥18 years, when adjusting for study design (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.45, 95% CI: 1.15-1.83), confounders (aOR 1.28: 1.01-1.62) and confounders + age at pregnancy (aOR 1.29: 1.00-1.68). Associations were insignificant for multigravida women. No significant associations were observed between age at first pregnancy and preterm delivery. DISCUSSION: In this population, early marriage, rather than pregnancy, is a risk factor for preterm delivery. We hypothesize that psychological stress, a driver of preterm delivery which is increased among those marrying young, rather than physiological immaturity, drives this association. Further research into the psychological consequences of child marriage in Nepal is needed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.