ArticleBiology of sex differences2016
Sex-specific differences in fetal and infant growth patterns: a prospective population-based cohort study.
Article in Biology of sex differences, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 76 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
76 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 136 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sex-based differences in placental DNA methylation profiles related to gestational age: an NIH ECHO meta-analysis.Epigenetics · 2023Pooled it
- Determinants of rapid infant weight gain: A pooled analysis of seven cohorts.Pediatric obesity · 2022Pooled it
- Influence of Gestational Age Measurement Technique on the Associations Between Maternal Characteristics and Birth Outcomes.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2026Trial
- Sexual Dimorphism in Placental mTORC1 Signaling, Amino Acid Transport, and Mitochondrial Respiration at Term.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Article
- Genetic and maternal environmental contributions to estimated fetal weight at 20 weeks gestation compared with birthweight.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Placental and juvenile immune responses to maternal immune activation are differentially regulated by sex chromosomes and gonads across gestation.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Article
- Mind the Litter: The Critical Role of Intralitter Variables in Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology Research.Birth defects research · 2026Review
- Infant social withdrawal and rapid infant weight gain.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2026Article
- Sex-Specific Variation in Maternal Serum Screening Markers Across the First and Second Trimesters: Evidence from 10,384 Screened Pregnancies.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- The Timing of Intrauterine Exposure to Maternal SARS-CoV-2 Infection Impacts Neurodevelopment and Growth Trajectories During the First Year of Life.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Coeliac trunk origin of bilateral inferior phrenic arteries.Frontiers in surgery · 2026Article
- A Fully-Integrated Bayesian Approach for the Imputation and Analysis of Derived Outcome Variables With Missingness.Statistics in medicine · 2026Article
- The placental transcriptome serves as a mechanistic link between prenatal phthalate exposure and placental efficiency.Environment international · 2025Article
- Delivery mode, birth order, and sex impact neonatal microbial colonization.Gut microbes · 2025Article
- Factors influencing the birth weight of ART-conceived offspring.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2025Review
- A comparative study on infant growth between assisted reproductive technology pregnancy and natural pregnancy.Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2025Article
- Article
- Investigating the Accuracy of Ultrasound Imaging in Measuring Fetal Weight in Comparison with the Actual Postpartum Weight.Pediatric reports · 2025Article
- Prenatal organophosphate pesticide exposure and sex-specific estimated fetal size.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
16 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe objective of this study was to assess whether sex-specific differences in fetal and infant growth exist.
methodsThis study was embedded in the Generation R Study, a population-based prospective birth cohort. In total, 8556 live singleton births were included. Fetal growth was assessed by ultrasound. During the first trimester, crown-rump-length (CRL) was measured. In the second and third trimester of pregnancy head circumference (HC), abdominal circumference (AC) and femur length (FL) were assessed. Information on infant growth during the first 2 years of life was obtained from Community Health Centers and included HC, body weight and length.
resultsIn the first trimester, male CRL was larger than female CRL (0.12 SD [95% CI 0.03,0.22]). From the second trimester onwards, HC and AC were larger in males than in females (0.30 SD [95% CI 0.26,0.34] and 0.09 SD [95% CI 0.05,0.014], respectively). However, FL in males was smaller compared to female fetuses (0.21 SD [95% CI 0.17,0.26]). Repeated measurement analyses showed a different prenatal as well as postnatal HC growth pattern between males and females. A different pattern in body weight was observed with a higher body weight in males until the age of 12 months where after females have a higher body weight.
conclusionsSex affects both fetal as well as infant growth. Besides body size, also body proportions differ between males and females with different growth patterns. This sexual dimorphism might arise from differences in fetal programming with sex specific health differences as a consequence in later life.
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