Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To test our previously generated hypothesis that women with secondary recurrent miscarriages with a firstborn boy have a poorer pregnancy prognosis than those with a firstborn girl.
DESIGN: A study of a retrospective and a prospective cohort.
SETTING: The Danish recurrent miscarriage clinic.
PATIENT(S): Two cohorts of 175 and 130 consecutive patients with unexplained secondary recurrent miscarriage referred from 1986 to 1999 (cohort 1) and 2000 to 2005 (cohort 2), respectively.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): The odds ratio (OR) for a live birth in the first pregnancy after referral in those with a firstborn boy compared with a firstborn girl in each of the two cohorts. The corresponding OR for a live birth adjusted for relevant prognostic variables in the combined group of patients.
RESULT(S): The crude ORs for a live birth in those with a firstborn boy compared with a firstborn girl were very similar in cohorts 1 and 2 (OR = 0.35, 0.33). In the adjusted analysis only two of five included variables significantly predicted live birth: a firstborn boy and the number of previous miscarriages.
CONCLUSION(S): Male sex of the firstborn child is a strong negative prognostic factor in women with secondary recurrent miscarriage. A possible explanation is an abnormal maternal immune response against male-specific minor histocompatibility (HY) antigens.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Fertility and Sterility |
| Volume | 89 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Pages (from-to) | 907-11 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| ISSN | 0015-0282 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2008 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Abortion, Habitual
- Adult
- Female
- H-Y Antigen
- Humans
- Infant, Newborn
- Live Birth
- Logistic Models
- Male
- Odds Ratio
- Pregnancy
- Prognosis
- Prospective Studies
- Retrospective Studies
- Risk Factors
- Sex Factors
- Sex Ratio