Serious pregnancy complications are more likely when women are carrying baby boys, new research suggests. «The sex of the baby […]
Serious pregnancy complications are more likely when women are carrying baby boys, new research suggests.
«The sex of the baby has a direct association with pregnancy complications,» said study first author Dr. Petra Verburg, of the Robinson Research Institute at the University of Adelaide in Australia.
Boy babies were more likely to be born early, which sets up infants for more health problems. Also, women carrying boys were slightly more likely to have diabetes during pregnancy (gestational diabetes), and pre-eclampsia, a serious high blood pressure condition, when ready to deliver, the study authors said.
Although it isn’t totally clear why this is so, «there are likely to be genetic factors,» Verburg said.
However, women carrying girls had a 22 percent higher risk of getting pre-eclampsia early in pregnancy, requiring preterm delivery, the study found.
Gestational diabetes was 4 percent more likely in women carrying boys, and pre-eclampsia at term was 7.5 percent more likely with boys, the researchers said.
However, women carrying girls had a 22 percent higher risk of getting pre-eclampsia early in pregnancy, requiring preterm delivery, the study found.
Still, the research merely shows an association between gender and birth complications, not a cause-and-effect relationship. The findings shouldn’t alarm mothers-to-be, no matter what the sex of their unborn child, said Claire Roberts, another researcher at the Robinson Research Institute.
The advice, for now, is the same as for all women who become pregnant, Roberts said. That means eating a good diet and attempting to maintain a healthy weight before conceiving.
«Even if the pregnancy was unplanned,» Verburg said, «there is still a window of opportunity for a woman to reduce her risks for pregnancy complications.» A woman can stop smoking, not drink alcohol and stay physically fit, she said.