Predicting the Baby’s Gender Using Maternal Blood Pressure
A preliminary study suggests that the sex of a woman’s unborn child may be determined by her blood pressure six months before conception.
A team of Canadian and Chinese researchers found that high blood pressure before pregnancy may increase the likelihood of having a boy. Conversely, low blood pressure may be associated with a girl. The researchers found only an association between pre-pregnancy blood pressure and the baby’s sex, but they could not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
“How can you predict the sex of your baby from a mother’s blood pressure? The answer is not entirely clear. When a woman becomes pregnant, the sex of the fetus depends on whether the father’s sperm contributes an X or a Y chromosome,” said the study’s senior author, Dr. Ravi Ratnakaran, an endocrinologist at Mount Sinai Hospital and the Lunenberg-Tanenbaum Research Institute in Toronto.
“These findings suggest that lower maternal blood pressure shortly before pregnancy increases the likelihood of having a girl, and higher blood pressure before pregnancy increases the likelihood of having a boy,” Ratnakaran said. The researchers have previously suggested that major social events, such as natural disasters or economic downturns, can lead to changes in the ratio of boys to girls. “We hypothesized that there are likely physiological factors in a woman that are associated with the likelihood of having a girl or a boy,” Ratnakaran added. The new study assessed more than 1,400 newlyweds in Liuyang, China, in 2009. All of the women said they planned to become pregnant within six months. All of them were tested for blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar. The study authors found that women who gave birth to boys had higher blood pressure before pregnancy than women who gave birth to girls.
A team of Canadian and Chinese researchers found that high blood pressure before pregnancy may increase the likelihood of having a boy. Conversely, low blood pressure may be associated with a girl. The researchers found only an association between pre-pregnancy blood pressure and the baby’s sex, but they could not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
“How can you predict the sex of your baby from a mother’s blood pressure? The answer is not entirely clear. When a woman becomes pregnant, the sex of the fetus depends on whether the father’s sperm contributes an X or a Y chromosome,” said the study’s senior author, Dr. Ravi Ratnakaran, an endocrinologist at Mount Sinai Hospital and the Lunenberg-Tanenbaum Research Institute in Toronto.
“These findings suggest that lower maternal blood pressure shortly before pregnancy increases the likelihood of having a girl, and higher blood pressure before pregnancy increases the likelihood of having a boy,” Ratnakaran said. The researchers have previously suggested that major social events, such as natural disasters or economic downturns, can lead to changes in the ratio of boys to girls. “We hypothesized that there are likely physiological factors in a woman that are associated with the likelihood of having a girl or a boy,” Ratnakaran added. The new study assessed more than 1,400 newlyweds in Liuyang, China, in 2009. All of the women said they planned to become pregnant within six months. All of them were tested for blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar. The study authors found that women who gave birth to boys had higher blood pressure before pregnancy than women who gave birth to girls.
