Abstract
Background
There is some evidence that paternal health behaviours during and around pregnancy could be associated with offspring health outcomes. However, the impact that paternal health behaviours during pregnancy can have on offspring mental health is understudied and remains unclear.
Methods
We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of articles in PubMed describing studies of potentially modifiable paternal health behaviours (tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, caffeine consumption and physical activity) in the prenatal period in relation to offspring mental health. GRADE was used to measure risk of bias.
Results
Eight studies were included and categorized by paternal health behaviour and offspring mental health outcome investigated. The narrative synthesis provided evidence of association between paternal health behaviours around pregnancy and offspring mental health problems, with the strongest evidence shown for tobacco use. Grouped by analysis type, two separate meta-analyses showed evidence of paternal smoking during pregnancy being associated with greater odds of ADHD in offspring (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.02–1.99; HR 1.28, 95% CI 1.19–1.39).
Conclusions
The small number of studies that have investigated paternal prenatal effects on offspring mental health, and the limited sample sizes of those studies, makes it challenging to draw firm conclusions. Although existing studies suggest that paternal tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption in the prenatal period are associated with poorer offspring mental health, (particularly hyperactivity/ADHD), further investigation of potential paternal effects is required, using methods that allow stronger inference to determine whether associations are causal.
There is some evidence that paternal health behaviours during and around pregnancy could be associated with offspring health outcomes. However, the impact that paternal health behaviours during pregnancy can have on offspring mental health is understudied and remains unclear.
Methods
We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of articles in PubMed describing studies of potentially modifiable paternal health behaviours (tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, caffeine consumption and physical activity) in the prenatal period in relation to offspring mental health. GRADE was used to measure risk of bias.
Results
Eight studies were included and categorized by paternal health behaviour and offspring mental health outcome investigated. The narrative synthesis provided evidence of association between paternal health behaviours around pregnancy and offspring mental health problems, with the strongest evidence shown for tobacco use. Grouped by analysis type, two separate meta-analyses showed evidence of paternal smoking during pregnancy being associated with greater odds of ADHD in offspring (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.02–1.99; HR 1.28, 95% CI 1.19–1.39).
Conclusions
The small number of studies that have investigated paternal prenatal effects on offspring mental health, and the limited sample sizes of those studies, makes it challenging to draw firm conclusions. Although existing studies suggest that paternal tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption in the prenatal period are associated with poorer offspring mental health, (particularly hyperactivity/ADHD), further investigation of potential paternal effects is required, using methods that allow stronger inference to determine whether associations are causal.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 214 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Reproductive Health |
| Volume | 18 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 26 Oct 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:KEE and GCS are financially supported by an MRC New Investigator Research Grant awarded to Gemma Sharp (grant code MR/S009310/1). GCS is also financially supported by the European Joint Programming Initiative “A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life” (JPI HDHL, NutriPROGRAM project, UK MRC MR/S036520/1).
Funding Information:
KEE and GCS work within the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol which is supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the University of Bristol.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
Keywords
- Systematic review
- Mental health
- Tobacco
- Alcohol
- Caffeine
- Physical activity
- Fathers
- Paternal
- Pregnancy
- Child health
- Meta-analysis
Access to Document
- Full-text PDF (final published version)
This is the final published version of the article (version of record). It first appeared online via BMC at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-021-01266-w . Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.