ArticleMedical principles and practice : international journal of the Kuwait University, Health Science Centre2015
Hurricane Katrina: Influence on the Male-to-Female Birth Ratio.
Article in Medical principles and practice : international journal of the Kuwait University, Health Science Centre, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Climate Change-Related Environmental Exposures and Perinatal and Maternal Health Outcomes in the U.S.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Tropical cyclone exposure and risk of adverse birth outcomes in urban and rural areas of Georgia.Environmental research communications · 2026Article
- Investigating the Aliso Canyon gas blowout disaster and adverse birth outcomes: A quasiexperimental approach.Science advances · 2025Article
- Unveiling the Effects of Natural Disasters and Nuclear Energy on the Secondary Sex Ratio: A Comprehensive Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Severe cyclones and sex-specific birth outcomes in Queensland, Australia: An interrupted time-series analysis.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2023Article
- A preliminary analysis of the secondary sex ratio decline after the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2022Article
- Effect of typhoons on the Korean national emergency medical service system.Clinical and experimental emergency medicine · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThis study was carried out in order to ascertain whether or not Hurricane Katrina and related factors (i.e. the amount of rainfall) influenced the male-to-female birth ratio (M/F). MATERIALS AND
methodsMonthly births by gender for the affected states (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi) for January 2003 to December 2012 were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Wonder, Atlanta, Ga., USA). Precipitation data was obtained from the US National Weather Service. Ordinary linear logistic regression was used for trend analysis. A p value ≤0.05 was taken to represent a statistically significant result.
resultsOf the total of 3,903,660 live births, 1,996,966 (51.16%) were male and 1,906,694 (48.84%) were female. Significant seasonal variation was noted (the maximum M/F in May was 1.055, the minimum M/F in September was 1.041, p = 0.0073). There was also a separate and significant rise in M/F 8-10 months after the storm (April to June 2006, peak M/F 1.078, p = 0.0074), which translated to an approximate deficit of 800 girls compared to 46,072 girls born in that period if the M/F increase was theoretically only due to a girls' deficit in the denominator of the ratio. This spike was only present in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, all of which received heavy rainfall. Florida did not receive heavy rainfall and experienced no such M/F spike.
conclusionIn this study there was a dose-response relation between the amount of rainfall after Hurricane Katrina and the monthly sex ratio of live births in the US states of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi 8-10 months later. The well-known yet unexplained distinct sex ratio seasonality may be due to natural or man-made radiation contained in the rain.
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