What question did this study set out to answer?

To determine whether pregnancies occurring before age 16 years are causally associated with long-term adverse health and developmental outcomes in offspring during late adolescence and adulthood.

August 14, 2026International Journal of EpidemiologyOpen Access

Peripubertal pregnancies and associations with health and developmental outcomes in offspring during late adolescence and adulthood: sibling-comparison register study

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Authors

VAVasudha AhujaUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa AHAyako HiyoshiStockholm University HBHelena BackmanCamden and Campbelltown Hospitals

Discussion

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Overview

Cohort study finds peripubertal pregnancy is not causally linked to adverse health or cognitive outcomes in adult offspring, indicating shared familial factors explain observed risks.

Key Points

To determine whether pregnancies occurring before age 16 years are causally associated with long-term adverse health and developmental outcomes in offspring during late adolescence and adulthood.
Analyzed linked Swedish population register data from 1964 to 2018, comparing pregnancies before age 16 years to pregnancies between ages 16 and 25 years.
Assessed BMI, systolic blood pressure (SBP), cognitive function, and stress resilience in 943,444 male conscripts aged 17–21 years, and evaluated type 2 diabetes (T2D), depression, and anxiety in 2,461,510 offspring aged 18–73 years.
Employed linear, multinomial, and survival models alongside sibling fixed-effects models to control for unmeasured shared familial confounding.
In conventional models, offspring born before maternal age 16 had lower SBP (β -1.12; 95% CI -1.97 to -0.26), lower cognitive function (β -0.54; 95% CI -0.67 to -0.40), lower stress resilience (β -0.24; 95% CI -0.38 to -0.10), and lower anxiety risk (HR 0.87; 95% CI 0.80 to 0.95).
Offspring had no increased risk of being underweight or overweight, nor any increased risk for type 2 diabetes or depression.
Sibling-comparison analyses attenuated deleterious developmental associations to null or reversed them, demonstrating that negative outcomes are driven by shared family background rather than young maternal age.

Cite This Study

Ahuja et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a96ad00d565115f2b577a45 https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyag153

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August 14, 2026International Journal of EpidemiologyOpen Access

Peripubertal pregnancies and associations with health and developmental outcomes in offspring during late adolescence and adulthood: sibling-comparison register study

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

VAVasudha AhujaUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa AHAyako HiyoshiStockholm University HBHelena BackmanCamden and Campbelltown Hospitals

Discussion

Member takes

Overview

Cohort study finds peripubertal pregnancy is not causally linked to adverse health or cognitive outcomes in adult offspring, indicating shared familial factors explain observed risks.

Key Points

To determine whether pregnancies occurring before age 16 years are causally associated with long-term adverse health and developmental outcomes in offspring during late adolescence and adulthood.
Analyzed linked Swedish population register data from 1964 to 2018, comparing pregnancies before age 16 years to pregnancies between ages 16 and 25 years.
Assessed BMI, systolic blood pressure (SBP), cognitive function, and stress resilience in 943,444 male conscripts aged 17–21 years, and evaluated type 2 diabetes (T2D), depression, and anxiety in 2,461,510 offspring aged 18–73 years.
Employed linear, multinomial, and survival models alongside sibling fixed-effects models to control for unmeasured shared familial confounding.
In conventional models, offspring born before maternal age 16 had lower SBP (β -1.12; 95% CI -1.97 to -0.26), lower cognitive function (β -0.54; 95% CI -0.67 to -0.40), lower stress resilience (β -0.24; 95% CI -0.38 to -0.10), and lower anxiety risk (HR 0.87; 95% CI 0.80 to 0.95).
Offspring had no increased risk of being underweight or overweight, nor any increased risk for type 2 diabetes or depression.
Sibling-comparison analyses attenuated deleterious developmental associations to null or reversed them, demonstrating that negative outcomes are driven by shared family background rather than young maternal age.

Cite This Study

Ahuja et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a96ad00d565115f2b577a45 https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyag153

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