Paternal violent criminality and preterm birth: a Swedish national cohort study

Can Liu,Cecilia Ekéus,Niklas Långström,Sven Cnattingius,Anders Hjern,Thomas Frisell

doi:10.1186/s12884-020-02964-2

Can Liu, Cecilia Ekéus + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-020-02964-2

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Abstract

BackgroundFathers may affect expectant mothers’ daily living situations, which in turn might influence pregnancy outcomes. We investigated the association between paternal violent criminality and risk of preterm birth (≤36 weeks).MethodsWe conducted a register-based study with all live singleton births in the Swedish Medical Birth Register from 1992 to 2012, linked with records of paternal violent crime convictions from the National Crime Register from 1973 to 2012.ResultsPaternal violent criminality was associated with increased risk of preterm birth and lower gestational age. The association was especially pronounced among infants of reoffenders: men convicted of three or more violent crimes (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.23 [95% CI 1.17, 1.29]). Maternal half sibling-comparisons, an analytic approach controlling for maternal factors stable across pregnancies, also suggested increased risk of preterm birth and lower gestational age when exposed to a violently reoffending father compared to a father without violent criminal convictions (aOR 1.30 [0.99, 1.72], adjusted mean difference − 1.07 [− 1.78, − 0.36]).ConclusionsPersistent paternal violent criminality was associated with increased risk of preterm birth, even after controlling for maternal characteristics that did not change between pregnancies.

Highlights

Fathers may affect expectant mothers’ daily living situations, which in turn might influence pregnancy outcomes
By cross-linking national Swedish registers, we explored whether a father’s conviction status increases the risk of preterm birth and shortens gestational age
Factors associated with being exposed to a father convicted of violent crime included relatively young parental age, low education, low household income per person, not cohabiting parents, maternal smoking during pregnancy, fathers or mothers ever having psychiatric or substance misuse diagnoses, and if mothers were convicted

Summary

Introduction

Fathers may affect expectant mothers’ daily living situations, which in turn might influence pregnancy outcomes. We investigated the association between paternal violent criminality and risk of preterm birth (≤36 weeks). Maternal psychosocial stress is one suggested mechanism, for spontaneous preterm birth [2,3,4,5]. The expectant father is an integral part of the psychosocial and physical environment of the pregnant woman, and may thereby influence the pregnancy [6]. Violence is a severe global public health problem [10]. Having an aggressive partner may increase the risk of domestic violence victimization, but can be a source of severe stress. Estimating the health consequences of violence is hindered by data availability [10], and convicted violent crime is only the tip of the iceberg. Beyond being a strong proxy for violent behaviour, conviction status is a potential

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