title: The paternal role in pre-eclampsia and giving birth to a small for gestational age infant; a population-based cohort study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the effect of partner change on risks of pre-eclampsia and giving birth to a small for gestational age infant.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective population study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sweden.
  
  
  METHODS
  Women with their first and second successive singleton births in Sweden between 1990 and 2006 without pregestational diabetes and/or hypertension (n=446 459).
  
  
  METHODS
  Preterm (<37 weeks) and term (≥37 weeks) pre-eclampsia, and giving birth to a small for gestational age (SGA) infant. Risks were adjusted for interpregnancy interval, maternal age, body mass index, height and smoking habits in second pregnancy, years of involuntary childlessness before second pregnancy, mother's country of birth, years of formal education and year of birth. Further, when we calculated risks of SGA we restricted the study population to women with non-pre-eclamptic pregnancies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In women who had a preterm pre-eclampsia in first pregnancy, partner change was associated with a strong protective effect for preterm pre-eclampsia recurrence (OR 0.24; 95% CI 0.07 to 0.88). Similarly, partner change was also associated with a protective effect of recurrence of SGA birth (OR 0.75; 95% CI 0.67 to 0.84). In contrast, among women without SGA in first birth, partner change was associated with an increased risk of SGA in second pregnancy. Risks of term pre-eclampsia were not affected by partner change.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a paternal effect on risks of preterm pre-eclampsia and giving birth to an SGA infant.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Clinical Epidemiology Unit at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anna-Karin
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Wikström
authors.forename: Jóhanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gunnarsdóttir
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cnattingius