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.
Keywords: Alcohol; Caffeine; Child health; Fathers; Mental health; Meta-analysis; Paternal; Physical activity; Pregnancy; Systematic review; Tobacco.
More research has focused on the impact mothers’ behaviours (such as smoking or alcohol use) during and around pregnancy may have on their children’s health, with less research investigating the role paternal health behaviours may play.This review captured what research was currently available that investigated the impact of paternal alcohol, tobacco, caffeine use, and physical activity during pregnancy on children’s mental health.We showed that this area is currently under researched, finding only eight studies. However, of the research that was already published we found evidence of paternal health behaviours having an impact on children’s mental health. The strongest evidence was shown for paternal smoking during pregnancy having a negative impact on children’s hyperactivity/ADHD. No studies measured paternal caffeine use or physical activity around pregnancy. This review highlights the lack of research that has investigated the association between paternal modifiable health behaviours around pregnancy and offspring mental health. Despite including four different types of paternal health behaviours and a broad definition of offspring mental health across any age, only eight studies were shown. This review suggests further research within this area is needed which may influence health warnings to potential fathers to be both before conception and during pregnancy.
© 2021. The Author(s).