{"id":3637,"date":"2020-10-13T08:44:15","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T22:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/?p=3637"},"modified":"2020-10-13T09:16:16","modified_gmt":"2020-10-12T23:16:16","slug":"parents-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/2020\/10\/13\/parents-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Prospective parents\u2019 mental health linked to premature births"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Key points:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A Melbourne-led study has uncovered links between parents\u2019 mental health and the risk of preterm birth<\/li>\n<li>Men with mental health problems through adolescence and young adulthood before conceiving were more likely to have premature babies<\/li>\n<li>Women with anxiety and depression during pregnancy were more likely to have a preterm birth<\/li>\n<li>Researchers said the preconception mental health care for both men and women should be expanded and to invest in coordinated care between child and adolescent, adult and specialist perinatal mental health services<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Both a mother\u2019s and father\u2019s mental health are associated with increased risk that their baby will be born premature, a new study has found.<\/p>\n<p>The research, led by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcri.edu.au\/\">Murdoch Children\u2019s Research Institute (MCRI)<\/a>, and published in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/eclinm\/home\"><em>EClinicalMedicine<\/em><\/a>, found men with persistent mental health problems through adolescence and young adulthood were more likely to have a baby born premature. Women with anxiety and depression during pregnancy were more likely to have a preterm birth.<\/p>\n<p>Study co-lead MCRI\u2019S and Deakin University\u2019s Elizabeth Spry said prior to this study the impact of maternal and paternal mental health history on offspring preterm birth and birth weight was unknown.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3638 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/files\/2020\/10\/Spry_parental-mental-health_1-400x200.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/files\/2020\/10\/Spry_parental-mental-health_1-400x200.png 400w, https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/files\/2020\/10\/Spry_parental-mental-health_1-768x384.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/files\/2020\/10\/Spry_parental-mental-health_1-600x300.png 600w, https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/files\/2020\/10\/Spry_parental-mental-health_1.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/>The study involved 398 women and 267 men from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcri.edu.au\/research\/projects\/2000-stories#:~:text=The%20Victorian%20Intergenerational%20Health%20Cohort,health%20and%20wellbeing%20across%20generations.\">Victorian Intergenerational Health Cohort Study (VIHCS)<\/a>, who were assessed over 15 years for anxiety and depressive symptoms from adolescence to young adulthood and during subsequent pregnancies.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Spry said that fathers were often neglected in research on children\u2019s early growth and development.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe found that men with persistent mental health symptoms in the decades leading up to pregnancy were more likely to have premature babies. Our study joins growing evidence of the important role that fathers play in the health and development of their children, and suggests that these links begin well before babies are conceived,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost research on children\u2019s early development has focused on mums. This means that public health recommendations are also almost entirely focused on what mums should and shouldn\u2019t do when planning pregnancy or having a child. In contrast, men receive very little guidance or support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Study co-lead, King\u2019s College London\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kcl.ac.uk\/people\/claire-wilson\">Dr Claire Wilson<\/a>, said understanding how mental health problems starting in adolescence affect birth outcomes could open up new opportunities for the prevention of premature birth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMental health may affect parental reproductive biology and antenatal pathways and can have an impact on genetic and environmental influences such as substance use and nutrition, which could be linked to a baby\u2019s development,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPre-term birth is common and is a leading cause of infant deaths worldwide,\u00a0but the underlying causes have been largely unknown. Early and mid-late preterm birth can carry lifelong effects on health and development such as visual and hearing impairments and poor\u00a0health\u00a0and growth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>MCRI-CAH <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcri.edu.au\/users\/professor-george-patton\">Professor George Patton<\/a> said the findings further strengthened the need for expanding preconception mental health care to both men and women, prior to them becoming parents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe findings emphasise a need for coordinated care between child and adolescent, adult and specialist perinatal health services,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIntervention in adolescence is likely to yield benefits not only for parents\u2019 own continuing mental health, but also for their child\u2019s development, both by reducing the risk of premature birth and promoting positive engagement and nurturing care across the early years of life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Professor Patton said prospective parent\u2019s mental health had also suffered during COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRates of anxiety and depression have risen markedly in adolescents and young adults across the course of the pandemic,\u201d he said. \u201cMany problems will resolve but there is a possibility that some will continue given ongoing economic disruption and unemployment. More than ever, we need research to track young parents through their pregnancies and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Researchers from Deakin University, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, University of Melbourne, Royal Women\u2019s Hospital, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health and the University of Bristol also contributed to the parental study findings.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Publication:<\/strong> Elizabeth Spry, Claire A Wilson, Melissa Middleton, Margarita Moreno-Betancur, Lex W Doyle, Louise M Howard, Anthony J Hannan, Mary E Wlodek, Jeanie LY Cheong, Lindsey A Hines, Carolyn Coffey, Stephanie Brown, Craig A Olsson and George C Patton. \u2018Parental mental health before and during pregnancy and offspring birth outcomes: a 20-year preconception cohort of maternal and paternal exposure,\u2019 <em>EClinicalMedicine<\/em>. DOI: 10.1016\/j.eclinm.2020.100564 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/eclinm\/article\/PIIS2589-5370(20)30308-4\/fulltext\">https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/eclinm\/article\/PIIS2589-5370(20)30308-4\/fulltext<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Media<\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"kmoq9MpLNZ\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.3aw.com.au\/how-a-fathers-mental-health-impacts-premature-birth-risk\/\">How a father&#8217;s mental health impacts premature birth risk<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&#8220;How a father&#8217;s mental health impacts premature birth risk&#8221; &#8212; 3AW\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3aw.com.au\/how-a-fathers-mental-health-impacts-premature-birth-risk\/embed\/#?secret=kmoq9MpLNZ\" data-secret=\"kmoq9MpLNZ\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prospective parents\u2019 mental health linked to premature births in a new 2000Stories study, highlighting the need for improved mental health care for men and women before becoming parents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":3638,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5270],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3637"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3643,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3637\/revisions\/3643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/cah\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}