New Study Finds Increased Risk of Premature Birth When Parents Have Psychiatric Diagnoses
A recent study conducted by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Karolinska Institutet has found that babies are more likely to be born prematurely when either their father or mother has had a psychiatric diagnosis. The study, published in the open access journal PLOS Medicine, sheds new light on the potential risks associated with parental psychiatric disorders.
This groundbreaking research reveals, for the first time, that the risk of preterm birth is higher in infants whose father or mother has a psychiatric diagnosis compared to those whose parents do not have such conditions. Furthermore, the risk is even higher when both parents have psychiatric diagnoses.
Preterm birth is known to have negative health consequences for infants. While it has long been recognized that women with psychiatric diagnoses are at an increased risk for preterm birth, less is known about the risk in offspring of fathers with psychiatric diagnoses and couples where both parents have such conditions.
To conduct the study, the research team analyzed data on all live births to Nordic parents in Sweden between 1997 and 2016. They gathered psychiatric diagnoses from the National Patient Register and gestational age data from the Medical Birth Register. In total, there were 1.5 million births in the cohort, with 15 percent of those babies born to parents with a psychiatric diagnosis.
The findings revealed a trend towards earlier gestational age in offspring of parents with psychiatric disorders. For parents without a diagnosis, 5.8 percent of babies were born prematurely. A paternal diagnosis increased this number to 6.3 percent, while a maternal diagnosis increased it to 7.3 percent. When both parents had a diagnosis, 8.3 percent of births were preterm. The researchers also found that the risk was further increased when both parents had multiple co-existing psychiatric disorders.
“While the study was conducted in Sweden, the results may be generalizable beyond the country given the potential influence of genetic risk, as well as biological and psychological stress, in other populations,” stated Sven Sandin, Senior Author on the paper and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Icahn Mount Sinai. “With approximately one in five children in the United States having at least one parent with a mental health disorder, the results of this study have significant potential significance for public health.”
The study challenges the traditional belief that the mother’s behaviors are solely responsible for preterm births. Michael Silverman, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Icahn Mount Sinai and an author on the paper, emphasized the importance of exploring the non-gestational parent’s involvement in child developmental outcomes. He stated, “the non-gestational biologic parent’s (the father’s) psychiatric history is also associated with the increased likelihood of obstetric outcomes traditionally attributed solely to the mother.”
Weiyao Yin, lead author of the paper and a postdoctoral researcher at the Karolinska Institutet, added, “Children of parents with mental illness are at increased risk of being born prematurely, and our study shows that both the mothers and fathers are important.”
The researchers suggested that future studies should investigate whether additional social support and prenatal care for families with a positive psychiatric history could have an impact on gestational age.
The study highlights the need for awareness and support for families with parental psychiatric diagnoses, as premature birth can have significant lifelong complications for the infant.
Source: Mount Sinai Health System
Journal reference: DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1004256