OBJECTIVE: To study the association between salivary stress biomarkers and the secondary sex ratio. DESIGN: Prospective, longitudinal cohort study. SETTING: Community setting in the United Kingdom. PATIENT(S): On discontinuation of contraception for purposes of becoming pregnant, 338 women aged 18-40 years with complete data (90%) were followed until pregnant or up to six menstrual cycles. INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Secondary sex ratio. RESULT(S): Human chorionic gonadotropin pregnancies were detected in 207 (61%) women of whom 130 (63%) delivered singleton infants with available gender data. The adjusted odds ratio for a male birth was decreased for women in the highest quartile (AOR = 0.26; 95% confidence interval = 0.09, 0.74) of salivary cortisol relative to women in the lowest quartile during cycle 1. An inverse relation was observed between α-amylase and the 2° sex ratio, though not statistically significant. CONCLUSION(S): Our findings are consistent with a reversal in the 2° sex ratio with increasing preconception salivary cortisol concentrations. This relation suggests that activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis may have implications in sex allocation and requires further study.
OBJECTIVE: To study the association between salivary stress biomarkers and the secondary sex ratio. DESIGN: Prospective, longitudinal cohort study. SETTING: Community setting in the United Kingdom. PATIENT(S): On discontinuation of contraception for purposes of becoming pregnant, 338 women aged 18-40 years with complete data (90%) were followed until pregnant or up to six menstrual cycles. INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Secondary sex ratio. RESULT(S): Human chorionic gonadotropin pregnancies were detected in 207 (61%) women of whom 130 (63%) delivered singleton infants with available gender data. The adjusted odds ratio for a male birth was decreased for women in the highest quartile (AOR = 0.26; 95% confidence interval = 0.09, 0.74) of salivary cortisol relative to women in the lowest quartile during cycle 1. An inverse relation was observed between α-amylase and the 2° sex ratio, though not statistically significant. CONCLUSION(S): Our findings are consistent with a reversal in the 2° sex ratio with increasing preconception salivary cortisol concentrations. This relation suggests that activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis may have implications in sex allocation and requires further study.
Authors: M S Subbaraman; S J Goldman-Mellor; E S Anderson; K Z Lewinn; K B Saxton; M Shumway; R Catalano Journal: Hum Reprod Date: 2010-06-22 Impact factor: 6.918
Authors: M A Schuster; B D Stein; L Jaycox; R L Collins; G N Marshall; M N Elliott; A J Zhou; D E Kanouse; J L Morrison; S H Berry Journal: N Engl J Med Date: 2001-11-15 Impact factor: 91.245
Authors: Dorothée Out; Marian J Bakermans-Kranenburg; Douglas A Granger; Christa M Cobbaert; Marinus H van Ijzendoorn Journal: Biol Psychol Date: 2011-08-07 Impact factor: 3.251
Authors: Kate Walsh; Clare A McCormack; Rachel Webster; Anita Pinto; Seonjoo Lee; Tianshu Feng; H Sloan Krakovsky; Sinclaire M O'Grady; Benjamin Tycko; Frances A Champagne; Elizabeth A Werner; Grace Liu; Catherine Monk Journal: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Date: 2019-10-14 Impact factor: 11.205