Birth outcomes following unexpected job loss: a matched-sibling design

Samantha Gailey, Elias Stapput Knudsen, Laust H Mortensen, Tim A Bruckner

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningpeer review

3 Citationer (Scopus)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Research documents social and economic antecedents of adverse birth outcomes, which may include involuntary job loss. Previous work on job loss and adverse birth outcomes, however, lacks high-quality individual data on, and variation in, plausibly exogenous job loss during pregnancy and therefore cannot rule out strong confounding.

METHODS: We analysed unique linked registries in Denmark, from 1980 to 2017, to examine whether a father's involuntary job loss during his spouse's pregnancy increases the risk of a low-weight (i.e. <2500 grams) and/or preterm (i.e. <37 weeks of gestational age) birth. We applied a matched-sibling design to 743 574 sibling pairs.

RESULTS: Results indicate an increased risk of a low-weight birth among infants exposed in utero to fathers' unexpected job loss [odds ratio (OR) = 1.37, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07, 1.75]. Sex-specific analyses show that this result holds for males (OR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.14, 2.53) but not females (OR = 1.24, 95% CI: 0.80, 1.91). We find no relation with preterm birth.

CONCLUSIONS: Findings support the inference that a father's unexpected job loss adversely affects the course of pregnancy, especially among males exposed in utero.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftInternational Journal of Epidemiology
Vol/bind51
Udgave nummer3
Sider (fra-til) 858–869
Antal sider12
ISSN0300-5771
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2022

Bibliografisk note

© The Author(s) 2021; all rights reserved. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association.

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