SynthesisInternational journal of public health2026
The impact of armed conflict exposure on preterm birth, stillbirth, and neonatal anthropometric measures: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in International journal of public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
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.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objectives: To assess the association between armed conflict exposure and neonatal outcomes, including preterm birth, stillbirth, neonatal mortality, and anthropometric measures. Methods: We conducted this systematic review following PRISMA guidelines. PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and SCOPUS were searched from inception to January 2026. Studies examining neonatal outcomes among populations exposed to armed conflict, compared with non-exposed or pre-war populations were included. Meta-analyses were conducted using RevMan 5.4 software. Results: Seven studies encompassing diverse conflict settings met the inclusion criteria. No significant associations were observed for preterm birth (OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.61-1.05), stillbirth (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.93-1.05), or neonatal mortality (OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.73-1.56) after accounting for heterogeneity. Conflict-exposed neonates had higher birth weight (MD 1.56 kg, 95% CI 0.55-2.56) and head circumference (MD 0.60 cm, 95% CI 0.47-0.74). Conclusion: The absence of adverse associations should not be interpreted as evidence of protection. These findings highlight methodological limitations in conflict epidemiology and the urgent need for community-based surveillance systems capturing outcomes among vulnerable populations unable to access healthcare during armed conflicts.
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.