Abstract
Stress during pregnancy has been widely studied and associated to different variables, usually with negative results for the health of the mother and the newborn, such as having a higher risk of suffering postpartum depression, premature birth, obstetrics complications or low birthweight, among others. However, there are not many lines of research that study the role that the sex of the baby plays on this specific stress and vice versa. Thus, the main objective was to analyse the relationship between the sex of the offspring and the stress of the mothers in the first trimester of pregnancy. In order to achieve this, 108 women had their biological stress measured (trough hair cortisol levels) and psychological stress evaluated (the Prenatal Distress Questionnaire (PSS), the Perceived Stress Scale (PDQ) and the Stress Vulnerability Inventory (IVE)). The results revealed significant differences in maternal hair cortisol levels in the first trimester based on the sex of the baby they had given birth to (t = -2.04; P < 0.05): the concentration of the hormone was higher if the baby was a girl (164.36:54.45-284.87 pg/mg) than if it was a boy (101.13:37.95-193.56 pg/mg). These findings show that the sex of the future baby could be conditioned, among many other variables, by the mother´s stress levels during conception and first weeks of pregnancy. Further research is needed in this area to support our findings.
Highlights
In the case of 8 babies of the remaining 116 mothers, the amount of baby hair was deemed insufficient for cortisol analysis, so they were removed from the sample
The study’s objective was to understand the relationship between the baby’s sex and the level of cortisol in the mother’s hair before conception and in the first weeks of the first trimester, as well as between the baby’s sex and the psychological stress perceived by mothers in the first trimester of gestation
The results showed differences in maternal hair cortisol levels in the first trimester of pregnancy among women who gave birth to a baby boy compared to those who delivered a baby girl
Summary
Cortisol levels have traditionally been evaluated using blood, urine, saliva or amniotic fluid samples[4,5,6]. These measurements, are punctual and highly affected by the sleep–wake cycle. An alternative is the extraction of hair cortisol: hair cortisol is the only retrospective biomarker of chronic stress that is unaffected by contextual variables such as noise, temperature or social interaction. It enables retrieving cortisol measurements over the 3 months prior to the date of extraction[7,8]
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