The influence of fetal sex on maternal blood pressure in pregnancy.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pregnancy with a male compared to a female fetus carries a higher risk of term pre-eclampsia. Given evidence that maternal blood pressure (BP) may be raised in pregnancies with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (fetal overgrowth), a possible contributor to the association between male sex and term pre-eclampsia is faster male growth (~ 130 g heavier than females). We hypothesized that male sex would be associated with higher maternal BP in a general population sample, explained by birth weight sex differences.

Methods

We tested the association between fetal sex and maternal systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), measured at ~ 28 weeks gestation, in a meta-analysis of five cohorts of mother-child pairs (n up to 109,842). Maternal BP was analyzed as a continuo

SUBMITTER: Decina CS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12590762 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature