A new Dutch study suggests that labour and delivery may be more risky for male foetuses than for females. In an analysis of more than 400,000 births in the Netherlands from 1990 to 1994, male foetuses were significantly more likely than females to experience so-called foetal distress.
When a foetus goes into distress because of a lack of oxygen, immediate delivery may be necessary. After researchers took into account birth weight and whether or not a foetus was premature, males had a 48 percent higher risk of fetal distress than females.
Dr Dick J. Bekedam, of the Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis in Amsterdam, and colleagues are not sure why boys seem to be at higher risk than girls.
For the time being, the findings should not alter the care given during labour and delivery, according to Bekedam and his colleagues. If new methods of predicting foetal distress are developed, however, the researchers suggest that the sex of a foetus might be useful information.
-Online
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