ArticleBJPsych open2026
Preconception mental health and developmental vulnerability at school entry: population-based cohort study.
Article in BJPsych open, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPerinatal depression and/or anxiety (depression-anxiety) have been associated with developmental disruptions. Less attention has been paid to preconception mental health, which could also contribute to adverse outcomes.
aimsTo examine whether preconception mental health is associated with developmental vulnerability in children who were either exposed or unexposed to prenatal depression.
methodA population-based, retrospective cohort including 130 631 births to 108 340 pregnant people from British Columbia (Canada) between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2012, with child development data in the form of the Early Development Instrument (EDI). Logistic regression using cluster-robust standard errors was used to compare the odds of vulnerability on EDI domains.
resultsChildren born to pregnant people in all groups with depression-anxiety preconception history were more likely to be considered vulnerable on all developmental domains, except for communication skills and general knowledge, than those without prenatal depression and no preconception depression-anxiety. After adjusting for confounders, effect size was largest for children born to a person with prenatal depression who had persistent depression-anxiety before they conceived on the domains of physical health and well-being (adjusted odds ratio 1.73 [95% CI: 1.56-1.92]). Children born to people with prenatal depression but no preconception depression-anxiety were probably more vulnerable on social competence and emotional maturity domains than those without prenatal depression and no preconception depression-anxiety.
conclusionsPreconception mental health is associated with child development, even after accounting for depression in pregnancy. We hypothesise that it is picking up on different experiences of mental illness through the life course and represents slightly different fetal exposures.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.