Does greater morning sickness predict carrying a girl? Analysis of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy from retrospecti
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MATERNAL-FETAL MEDICINE
Does greater morning sickness predict carrying a girl? Analysis of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy from retrospective report Nicola R. Young1 · Mauricio La Rosa2 · Samuel A. Mehr1 · Max M. Krasnow1 Received: 1 May 2020 / Accepted: 13 October 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Purpose The prevalence of severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (NVP) requiring hospitalization has been associated with female fetal sex. However, the question of whether fetal sex and less severe forms of NVP share that association has not been investigated. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between fetal sex and the frequency of NVP. Methods We collected self-reported data from mothers via an international web-based survey on the Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) platform about pregnancy and first trimester NVP history. We considered the covariables of maternal age, parity status, proneness to nausea, geographic cohort, and preconceived notions of a relationship between fetal sex and NVP. Results Two-thousand five hundred and forty-three mothers met the inclusion criteria, yielding data from 4320 pregnancies. Women gestating a female fetus reported higher frequencies of NVP (M = 6.35 on a 1–9 scale) than did women gestating males (M = 6.04, p = .007). This effect held true when all other variables were included in the regression. General proneness to nausea, maternal age, and parity were also significant independent predictors of NVP. Conclusions Women that carried a female fetus, as opposed to a male fetus, reported significantly higher frequency of NVP during the first trimester of pregnancy. Further research should evaluate both the proximate and ultimate causes of this relationship. Keywords Nausea · Vomiting · Pregnancy · Fetal sex
Introduction Worldwide, folk wisdom states that the presence and intensity of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (NVP) is often predictive of fetal sex [1, 2]. According to this belief, if a pregnant woman does not experience frequent NVP, she will likely give birth to a boy. On the other hand, if a pregnant woman suffers particularly intense pregnancy nausea, the legend suggests that she will give birth to a girl.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-020-05839-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Nicola R. Young [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 91 Brewster Drive, Needham, Cambridge, MA 02492, USA
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA
2
Several studies have described an association between fetal sex and the presence of severe NVP (hyperemesis gravidarum). Whereas 70–80% of women report some degree of NVP [3], hyperemesis gravidarum, defined as severe NVP which if left untreated may lead to significant maternal and fetal morbidity [4], is a much rarer entity, occurring in 0.3–2% of women [5]. In
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