Pregnancy Complications are Higher in Newborn Boys Compared To Newborn Girls

A study on Australian births has revealed that newborn baby boys have a greater chance of having complications at birth than newborn baby girls. These complications could potentially cause death for the newborn babies.

"The major conclusion of our study is that the evidence is there and it is very clear: the sex of the baby has a direct association with pregnancy outcomes," said research leader and senior author Prof. Claire Roberts, as per EurekAlert. Roberts is from the University of Adelaide's Robinson Research Institute.

Boys more susceptible to complications at birth, research finds: Male babies are more susceptible to premature... https://t.co/35lY7HFllh

— Adelaide Journal (@adelaidejournal) July 11, 2016

More Pregnancy Complications For Boys

The researchers found that baby boys face a greater risk of being born spontaneously pre-term, according to a report from the ABC. There is a 27 percent greater risk for pre-term birth for boys between 20-24 weeks of pregnancy, 24 percent greater risk between 30-33 weeks and 17 percent greater risk between 34-36 weeks of pregnancy.

Besides this, the data from over 574,000 births for 30 years showed that mothers pregnant with boys are up for a 4 percent higher chance of gestational diabetes and up for a 7 percent higher chance of experiencing preeclampsia. For those pregnant with girls, they have a 22 percent greater risk for preeclampsia at the initial part of pregnancy which will require preterm birth.

Specified Intervention For Baby Boys And Girls

"Our results indicate there may be a need for specific interventions tailored to male and female babies, to prevent adverse outcomes for both child and mother, " said Dr. Petra Verburg from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, as per Daily Mail. Verburg is a lead author of the study and is also based at the University of Adelaide.

Verburg added that the research team is also looking into other variables that can predict pregnancy complications while considering the sex of the fetus in their continuing investigation. The findings of the study, the first of its kind to look into differences in birth outcomes between genders, have been published in the journal PLOS ONE.