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.

中文翻译：

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意外失业后的出生结果：匹配的兄弟姐妹设计

背景研究记录了不良出生结果的社会和经济前因，其中可能包括非自愿失业。然而，以前关于失业和不良出生结果的工作缺乏关于怀孕期间看似合理的外源性失业的高质量个人数据和变异，因此不能排除强烈的混杂因素。方法 我们分析了 1980 年至 2017 年丹麦的独特关联登记处，以检查父亲在配偶怀孕期间的非自愿失业是否会增加低体重（即 <2500 克）和/或早产（即 <37孕周）出生。我们对 743 574 对兄弟姐妹应用了匹配兄弟姐妹设计。结果 结果表明，在子宫内暴露于父亲意外失业的婴儿中，低体重出生的风险增加 [优势比 (OR) = 1.37，95% 置信区间 (CI)：1.07, 1.75]。性别特异性分析表明，该结果适用于男性 (OR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.14, 2.53)，但不适用于女性 (OR = 1.24, 95% CI: 0.80, 1.91)。我们发现与早产没有关系。结论 研究结果支持这样的推断，即父亲意外失业会对怀孕过程产生不利影响，尤其是在子宫内暴露的男性中。