SynthesisPediatric research2025
Socioeconomic disparities in the postnatal growth of preterm infants: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Pediatric research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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.
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.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Birth Weight in Infants with a Cleft Lip and/or Palate: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.The Journal of pediatrics · 2026Article
- NICU to neighborhood: structural drivers shape health inequities for preterm infants.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and early overweight of very preterm-born children: a cohort study in France.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Socioeconomic inequity in extreme outcomes within very pre-term and/or very low birthweight infants: evidence from multi-national cohorts.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Longitudinal modelling of growth in neonates exposed to antenatal steroids to quantify associations with final height: a cohort study.Archives of disease in childhood · 2025Observational
- Cord Blood Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number and Physical Growth in Infancy and Toddlerhood: A Birth Cohort Analysis.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Early-life pain alters excitability of corticotropin-releasing factor-expressing neurons in the central amygdala and stress-induced hypersensitivity during adolescence.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2025Article
- Factors influencing the growth of preterm infants in the first two years of life.Revista paulista de pediatria : orgao oficial da Sociedade de Pediatria de Sao Paulo · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo determine the effect of parental socioeconomic status (SES) on the postnatal growth of preterm infants.
methodsA systematic review (PROSPERO registration CRD42020225714) of original articles from Medline, Embase, CINAHL Plus and Web of Science published 1946-2023 was undertaken. Studies were included if they reported anthropometric growth outcomes for preterm infants according to parental SES. Data extraction and assessments of bias and health equity impact were conducted using custom-designed forms.
resultsA narrative synthesis of twelve included studies was performed. Most infants were moderate to late preterm. The settings, growth outcomes, timings of growth measurement, and SES measures were heterogenous. Six studies demonstrated an adverse effect of low parental SES on the extrauterine growth of preterm infants, five studies showed no effect, and one study showed a potentially beneficial effect. All studies had a high risk of bias, especially confounding and selection bias. The health equity impact of included studies was largely negative.
conclusionLimited and low-quality evidence suggests that socioeconomic minoritisation may adversely impact the growth of preterm infants, thereby widening existing socioeconomic health inequities. Observational studies informed by theorisation of the mechanistic pathways linking socioeconomic minoritisation to adverse postnatal growth are required to identify targets for intervention. IMPACT: Limited evidence suggests low parental socioeconomic status (SES) adversely affects the postnatal growth of preterm infants across different settings. Early growth of preterm infants predicts neurodevelopmental outcomes and the risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disease in adulthood. Systematic screening of over 15,000 articles identified only twelve studies which reported postnatal growth outcomes for preterm infants according to parental SES. The health equity impact of the included studies was systematically assessed, and found to be negative overall. This study highlights limitations in existing evidence on the association between parental SES and postnatal growth, and delineates avenues for future research.
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