SynthesisBMC pregnancy and childbirth2024
Factors associated with posttraumatic stress and anxiety among the parents of babies admitted to neonatal care: a systematic review.
Synthesis in BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 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
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Postpartum Suicidality beyond Depression: a Systematic Review of Risk Profiles and Prevention Gaps.Current psychiatry reports · 2026Pooled it
- Perceived Parental Stress in Open Bay Versus Single-Family Rooms in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2026Observational
- Comfort, benefit, and distress: An exploratory study of research experiences of bereaved parents in the neonatal intensive care unit.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2026Article
- Unrecognized and Unheard: Experiences of Black Mothers Navigating the "Good NICU Mother" Ideal Across the Preterm Birth Continuum.Research square · 2026Article
- Maternal Experiences with Exclusive Pumping-An Online Survey.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Health-related quality of life and associated psychosocial and clinical factors among mothers whose neonates admitted to neonatal intensive care units in Amhara Regional State Referral Hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia: a multicenter study.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2026Article
- Factors associated with the mental health of parents during and after their child's hospitalisation: an international longitudinal prospective cohort study.BMJ mental health · 2026Article
- Maternal Stress, Depression, Anxiety, and Participation in Care in Neonatal Semi-Intensive and Intensive Care Units: Results of a Cross-Sectional Study in Two Sri Lankan Hospitals.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- A retrospective study on post-traumatic stress disorder in fathers of preterm infants in the NICU and the effectiveness of kangaroo care intervention.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Educational materials to empower parents of preterm infants within a family-centered early intervention in the NICU.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Article
- Maternal and perinatal factors associated with childbirth-related post-traumatic stress symptoms: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Impact of Prematurity and Maternal Bonding on Sensory Processing at 12 Months.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Impact of Preterm Birth on Parents' Mental Health and the Role of Family-Centred Interventions: A Narrative Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Parenting experiences of informal caregivers of preterm infants during the first 2 years of life at corrected age: a qualitative systematic review protocol.JBI evidence synthesis · 2025Article
- The Impact of Dating Twin Pregnancy by the Larger, Smaller or Mean Twin Crown-Rump Length: A Retrospective Cohort Study.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2025Article
- The implementation and impact of narrative diaries in neonatal intensive care units: A scoping review.Nursing in critical care · 2025Article
- Evaluating stress and it associated factors in mothers of preterm infants in NICU: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in global women's health · 2025Article
- Relationship between the perception of disrespectful treatment and abuse during childbirth and the risk of postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder: a PPQ-based study.Frontiers in global women's health · 2025Article
- Psychological distress in the neonatal intensive care unit: a meta-review.Pediatric research · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPosttraumatic stress (PTS) and anxiety are common mental health problems among parents of babies admitted to a neonatal unit (NNU). This review aimed to identify sociodemographic, pregnancy and birth, and psychological factors associated with PTS and anxiety in this population.
methodStudies published up to December 2022 were retrieved by searching Medline, Embase, PsychoINFO, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health electronic databases. The modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for cohort and cross-sectional studies was used to assess the methodological quality of included studies. This review was pre-registered in PROSPERO (CRD42021270526).
resultsForty-nine studies involving 8,447 parents were included; 18 studies examined factors for PTS, 24 for anxiety and 7 for both. Only one study of anxiety factors was deemed to be of good quality. Studies generally included a small sample size and were methodologically heterogeneous. Pooling of data was not feasible. Previous history of mental health problems (four studies) and parental perception of more severe infant illness (five studies) were associated with increased risk of PTS, and had the strongest evidence. Shorter gestational age (≤ 33 weeks) was associated with an increased risk of anxiety (three studies) and very low birth weight (< 1000g) was associated with an increased risk of both PTS and anxiety (one study). Stress related to the NNU environment was associated with both PTS (one study) and anxiety (two studies), and limited data suggested that early engagement in infant's care (one study), efficient parent-staff communication (one study), adequate social support (two studies) and positive coping mechanisms (one study) may be protective factors for both PTS and anxiety. Perinatal anxiety, depression and PTS were all highly comorbid conditions (as with the general population) and the existence of one mental health condition was a risk factor for others.
conclusionHeterogeneity limits the interpretation of findings. Until clearer evidence is available on which parents are most at risk, good communication with parents and universal screening of PTS and anxiety for all parents whose babies are admitted to NNU is needed to identify those parents who may benefit most from mental health interventions.
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.