Su, XiujuanYu, YongfuMeng, LuluDuan, TonyZhao, YanLászló, Krisztina D.Valdimarsdóttir, Unnur AnnaHua, JingLi, Jiong2025-11-202025-11-202021-10-01Su, X, Yu, Y, Meng, L, Duan, T, Zhao, Y, László, K D, Valdimarsdóttir, U A, Hua, J & Li, J 2021, 'Prenatal Maternal Bereavement and Its Association With Intellectual Disability in the Offspring', Psychosomatic Medicine, vol. 83, no. 8, pp. 887-893. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.00000000000009900033-317441779925df2e4f22-56bf-46f3-86b8-c6a726b09d898511809635634334730https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/6465Source of Funding and Conflicts of Interest: X.S. is currently receiving a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81602860). Y.Y. is currently receiving a grant from the Lundbeck Foundation (R232-2016-2462 and R265-2017-4069). K.D.L. is currently receiving a grant from the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (2015-00837). The study was supported by grants from the Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF-6110-00019B and DFF-9039-00010B), the National Nature Science Foundation of China (82073570), the Nordic Cancer Union (R275-A15770), the Karen Elise Jensens Fond (2016), and the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF18OC0052029). All authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest. Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Psychosomatic Society.OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the association of a mother's loss of a close relative before or during pregnancy with intellectual disability (ID) in the offspring. METHODS: We performed a nationwide population-based cohort study based on Danish national registries. All live-born singletons born in Denmark during the 1978-2016 period (n = 2,216,601) were followed up starting from birth to 38 years of age. Log-linear Poisson regression was used to estimate the association between maternal bereavement (the death of an older child, a partner, or a parent 1 year before or during pregnancy) and the risk of ID in the offspring. RESULTS: Maternal bereavement during or before pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of ID (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.15; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.04-1.28). The risk of ID was increased by 27% when maternal bereavement occurred during pregnancy (IRR = 1.27; 95% CI = 1.08-1.49). When stratifying on the child's sex, we also observed an increased risk of ID associated with maternal bereavement during pregnancy both for male (IRR = 1.25; 95% CI = 1.02-1.53) and for female (IRR = 1.31; 95% CI = 1.02-1.69), respectively. The IRRs for unnatural death of a relative were also elevated (IRR = 1.22; 95% CI = 0.91-1.64) in general, although the difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that prenatal stress due to maternal loss of a close relative may increase the risk of offspring's ID of both sexes, in particular when the loss happened during pregnancy.7182242887-893eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessBereavementIntellectual disabilityPrenatal exposureDenmarkCohort studyPrenatal Exposure Delayed Effects/epidemiologyGriefHumansRisk FactorsMaleIntellectual Disability/epidemiologyPregnancyDenmark/epidemiologyAdolescentFemaleRegistriesChildCohort StudiesPsychiatry and Mental HealthApplied Psychology/dk/atira/pure/researchoutput/researchoutputtypes/contributiontojournal/article10.1097/PSY.0000000000000990