A new study shows that women who are planning to move to a new home should do so before or after pregnancy since the move could increase the risk of preterm birth.

Researchers examined data from more than 100,000 pregnant women in the state of Washington. The study found that women who moved to a new home during the first trimester were 42% more likely to deliver their baby prematurely and 37% were more likely to give birth to a baby with lower-than-average birth weight.

Published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the study is the first to observe a link between moving to a new home and negative birth outcomes. Despite its findings, the study simply reveals a link, but cannot blame moving for preterm birth or other negative birth outcomes. Other factors, such as the reason for the move, were not considered.

"Our study is a good first step in identifying moving as a potential risk factor worth researching in more depth, but I don't think we know enough at this point" to make recommendations, study lead author Julia Bond, of the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health, told Live Science.

Although not conclusive, the study does suggest that pregnant women should avoid stressors during pregnancy. Previous studies have revealed that pregnant women exposed to stressful events, such as natural disasters, economic crises or job loss, are at a heightened risk for complications such as preterm birth.

The new study analyzed data from approximately 28,000 pregnant women who moved house and roughly 112,000 women who remained in their usual residence during their first trimester. Among those who moved, 9.1% gave birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy, compared with 6.4% of those who didn't move. Additionally, among those who moved, 6.4% had babies "low birth weight" babies, compared with 4.5% of those mothers who didn't move.

The study also considered other factors that could increase the risk of preterm birth and low birth-weight, such as the mother's age, education level, socioeconomic status and smoking habits. In addition to stress, moving was also found to interrupt health care, cause physical strain and emotional stress, and upset social support from family and friends.

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In the future, Bond hopes to continue analyzing the data surrounding moves, including the different reasons for moving, such as upgrading to a bigger home compared to being evicted or living in an unsafe environment since these factors can impact negative birth outcomes. "I think that will help improve our understanding of why we are seeing an association between moving and these adverse birth outcomes," Bond said.