ArticleJAMA network open2025
Parental Leave Benefits and Maternal Postpartum Mental Health in Sweden.
Article in JAMA network open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 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
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Cardiovascular Health of Single Mothers: A Systematic Review.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2025Pooled it
- Postpartum-specific anxiety among working mothers in relation to maternity leave perceptions: a cross-sectional study from Turkey.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Structural barriers to work-family reconciliation in surgery: a gendered analysis of career disruption and care responsibilities.Updates in surgery · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Importance: Generous parental leave benefits have been associated with better mental health outcomes for parents after childbirth. However, few studies account for preconception mental health and working conditions, the latter being a requirement for generous parental leave benefits. Objective: To evaluate the association between levels of parental leave benefits and maternal postpartum mental health when preconception mental health, income, and employment status were considered. Design, Setting, and Participants: This population-based nationwide cohort study included first-time mothers aged 18 to 52 years who gave birth to a live singleton offspring between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2011. Data were analyzed from March 8 to February 18, 2025. Exposure: Paid parental leave benefits, including higher level (qualified for earnings-related benefits equal to approximately 80% of their salary) vs basic level (a flat-rate benefit for those not meeting the work requirements for earnings-related benefits). Main Outcomes and Measures: Nationwide registers were used to perform multivariable logistic regression to calculate the odds of mental health outcomes from different levels of severity (prescription of antidepressants or anxiolytics, specialist outpatient care, and hospitalization) between mothers receiving higher-level and basic benefits. Decomposition analyses using the Karlson-Holm-Breen method were conducted to examine the contribution of preconception mental health, income, and employment status. Results: The sample included 210 800 first-time mothers (mean [SD] age, 28.6 [5.0] years), of whom 35 255 (16.72%) received basic benefits and 175 545 (83.28%) qualified for higher-level benefits. Mothers receiving basic benefits had higher odds of being prescribed antidepressants or anxiolytics (odds ratio [OR], 1.44; 95% CI, 1.37-1.51), receiving specialist outpatient care (OR, 2.27; 95% CI, 2.13-2.44), and being hospitalized (OR, 2.47; 95% CI, 2.06-2.97) compared with mothers receiving higher-level benefits. Higher odds remained after adjusting for preconception mental health, accounting for a 46.1% decrease for prescribed antidepressants or anxiolytics, 15.1% for outpatient care, and 10.7% for hospitalization. After adjustment for income and employment status, the odds remained elevated for specialist outpatient care (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.02-1.24) and hospitalization (OR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.03-1.76). Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study of first-time mothers in Sweden, higher-level benefits were associated with better mental health, particularly moderate-to-severe mental disorders. However, since eligibility for higher-level parental leave benefits is contingent on labor market attachment, both improving women's labor market attachment and relaxing the work requirements for higher-level parental leave could promote women's postpartum mental health.
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.