Sex of prior children and risk of stillbirth in subsequent pregnancies

Henriette Svarre Nielsen; Laust Hvas Mortensen; Ulrikka Nygaard; Ole Schnor; Ole Bjarne Christiansen; Anne-Marie Nybo Andersen

doi:10.1097/ede.0b013e3181c04dcf

Sex of prior children and risk of stillbirth in subsequent pregnancies

Henriette Svarre Nielsen, Laust Hvas Mortensen, Ulrikka Nygaard, Ole Schnor, Ole Bjarne Christiansen, Anne-Marie Nybo Andersen

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Delivery of a boy has been reported to increase a woman's risk of recurrent miscarriage in subsequent pregnancies. We explored whether delivery of boys similarly increases the risk of a subsequent stillbirth. Methods: We identified all Danish women delivering their first child (singleton) between 1980 and 1998 (n = 499,731) using the Danish Birth Registry. These women had subsequent singleton births through 2004 (n = 558,314). We assessed the risk of stillbirth conditional on sex of prior children. Results: The risk of stillbirth was increased by 12% after deliver of boys compared with girls (relative risk = 1.12 [95% confidence interval = 1.02-1.23]). This association did not appear to be explained by maternal confounders. CONCLUSION:: Stillbirth risk appears to be slightly higher among the pregnancies of women who have previously delivered a boy. One possible mechanism is maternal immune response to male-specific minor histocompatibility antigens initiated during pregnancies with boys.

Original language	English
Journal	Epidemiology
Volume	21
Issue number	1
Pages (from-to)	114-7
Number of pages	3
ISSN	1044-3983
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1097/ede.0b013e3181c04dcf
Publication status	Published - Jan 2010

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title = "Sex of prior children and risk of stillbirth in subsequent pregnancies",

abstract = "Background: Delivery of a boy has been reported to increase a woman's risk of recurrent miscarriage in subsequent pregnancies. We explored whether delivery of boys similarly increases the risk of a subsequent stillbirth. Methods: We identified all Danish women delivering their first child (singleton) between 1980 and 1998 (n = 499,731) using the Danish Birth Registry. These women had subsequent singleton births through 2004 (n = 558,314). We assessed the risk of stillbirth conditional on sex of prior children. Results: The risk of stillbirth was increased by 12% after deliver of boys compared with girls (relative risk = 1.12 [95% confidence interval = 1.02-1.23]). This association did not appear to be explained by maternal confounders. CONCLUSION:: Stillbirth risk appears to be slightly higher among the pregnancies of women who have previously delivered a boy. One possible mechanism is maternal immune response to male-specific minor histocompatibility antigens initiated during pregnancies with boys.",

author = "Nielsen, {Henriette Svarre} and Mortensen, {Laust Hvas} and Ulrikka Nygaard and Ole Schnor and Christiansen, {Ole Bjarne} and Andersen, {Anne-Marie Nybo}",

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doi = "10.1097/ede.0b013e3181c04dcf",

language = "English",

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journal = "Epidemiology",

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T1 - Sex of prior children and risk of stillbirth in subsequent pregnancies

AU - Nielsen, Henriette Svarre

AU - Mortensen, Laust Hvas

AU - Nygaard, Ulrikka

AU - Schnor, Ole

AU - Christiansen, Ole Bjarne

AU - Andersen, Anne-Marie Nybo

PY - 2010/1

Y1 - 2010/1

N2 - Background: Delivery of a boy has been reported to increase a woman's risk of recurrent miscarriage in subsequent pregnancies. We explored whether delivery of boys similarly increases the risk of a subsequent stillbirth. Methods: We identified all Danish women delivering their first child (singleton) between 1980 and 1998 (n = 499,731) using the Danish Birth Registry. These women had subsequent singleton births through 2004 (n = 558,314). We assessed the risk of stillbirth conditional on sex of prior children. Results: The risk of stillbirth was increased by 12% after deliver of boys compared with girls (relative risk = 1.12 [95% confidence interval = 1.02-1.23]). This association did not appear to be explained by maternal confounders. CONCLUSION:: Stillbirth risk appears to be slightly higher among the pregnancies of women who have previously delivered a boy. One possible mechanism is maternal immune response to male-specific minor histocompatibility antigens initiated during pregnancies with boys.

AB - Background: Delivery of a boy has been reported to increase a woman's risk of recurrent miscarriage in subsequent pregnancies. We explored whether delivery of boys similarly increases the risk of a subsequent stillbirth. Methods: We identified all Danish women delivering their first child (singleton) between 1980 and 1998 (n = 499,731) using the Danish Birth Registry. These women had subsequent singleton births through 2004 (n = 558,314). We assessed the risk of stillbirth conditional on sex of prior children. Results: The risk of stillbirth was increased by 12% after deliver of boys compared with girls (relative risk = 1.12 [95% confidence interval = 1.02-1.23]). This association did not appear to be explained by maternal confounders. CONCLUSION:: Stillbirth risk appears to be slightly higher among the pregnancies of women who have previously delivered a boy. One possible mechanism is maternal immune response to male-specific minor histocompatibility antigens initiated during pregnancies with boys.

U2 - 10.1097/ede.0b013e3181c04dcf

DO - 10.1097/ede.0b013e3181c04dcf

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SN - 1044-3983

VL - 21

SP - 114

EP - 117

JO - Epidemiology

JF - Epidemiology

IS - 1

ER -

Sex of prior children and risk of stillbirth in subsequent pregnancies

Abstract

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