SynthesisBiology of sex differences2020
Fetal sex and maternal pregnancy outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Biology of sex differences, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 103 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
103 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 165 citations in OpenAlex.
- The influence of fetal sex on maternal blood pressure in pregnancy.BMC medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of prenatal ultrasound in fetal sex identification: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of ultrasound · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of fetal sex on neonatal outcomes in women with gestational diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Pooled it
- Sex differences in the effects of prematurity and/or low birthweight on neurodevelopmental outcomes: systematic review and meta-analyses.Biology of sex differences · 2023Pooled it
- Fetal sex and risk of pregnancy-associated malaria in Plasmodium falciparum-endemic regions: a meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2023Pooled it
- The environmental risk factors prior to conception associated with placental abruption: an umbrella review.Systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Maternal and Fetal Outcomes After Interferon Exposure During Pregnancy: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2021Pooled it
- Progesterone for Neurodevelopment in Fetuses With Congenital Heart Defects: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- Early Home Visits and Health Outcomes in Low-Income Mothers and Offspring: 18-Year Follow-Up of a Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- Comparative study on pregnancy complications: PGT-A vs. IVF-ET with gender-specific outcomes.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Trial
- Prenatal exposure to DEHTP replacement metabolites and odds of preeclampsia and gestational hypertension in a diverse nulliparous U.S. cohort.Environmental advances · 2026Article
- Decoding preeclampsia: A fusion of multi-view machine learning and multi-omics to identify putative inflammation-related mechanisms.Molecular therapy. Nucleic acids · 2026Article
- Sexual Dimorphism in Placental mTORC1 Signaling, Amino Acid Transport, and Mitochondrial Respiration at Term.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Transcriptomic Perturbations in Placental Gene Expression Following Developmental Exposure to Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) or Hexafluoropropylene Oxide-Dimer Acid (HFPO-DA or GenX) in CD‑1 Mice Are Consistent with Placental Insufficiency.Environment & health (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
- Fetal sex shapes placental inflammatory responses to extracellular mitochondrial DNA.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Gestational lipid profile partially mediates adverse obstetric outcomes associated with polycystic ovary syndrome: a multicentre cohort study in China.Lipids in health and disease · 2026Observational
- Trophoblast stem cells and syncytiotrophoblasts lack inflammatory responses to LPS but retain robust interferon-mediated antiviral immunity.Reproduction & fertility · 2026Article
- Article
- Association of serum biomarkers of dietary purine intake with glycaemic control and risk of preterm birth: two prospective cohort studies among pregnant women.EBioMedicine · 2026Article
- High folic acid supplementation is associated with vaginal bleeding in early pregnancy in a fetal sex-specific manner: findings from two prospective cohort studies.Reproductive health · 2026Article
43 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSince the placenta also has a sex, fetal sex-specific differences in the occurrence of placenta-mediated complications could exist.
objectiveTo determine the association of fetal sex with multiple maternal pregnancy complications. SEARCH STRATEGY: Six electronic databases Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central, Web-of-Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar were systematically searched to identify eligible studies. Reference lists of the included studies and contact with experts were also used for identification of studies. SELECTION CRITERIA: Observational studies that assessed fetal sex and the presence of maternal pregnancy complications within singleton pregnancies. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSES: Data were extracted by 2 independent reviewers using a predesigned data collection form. MAIN
resultsFrom 6522 original references, 74 studies were selected, including over 12,5 million women. Male fetal sex was associated with term pre-eclampsia (pooled OR 1.07 [95%CI 1.06 to 1.09]) and gestational diabetes (pooled OR 1.04 [1.02 to 1.07]). All other pregnancy complications (i.e., gestational hypertension, total pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, placental abruption, and post-partum hemorrhage) tended to be associated with male fetal sex, except for preterm pre-eclampsia, which was more associated with female fetal sex. Overall quality of the included studies was good. Between-study heterogeneity was high due to differences in study population and outcome definition.
conclusionThis meta-analysis suggests that the occurrence of pregnancy complications differ according to fetal sex with a higher cardiovascular and metabolic load for the mother in the presence of a male fetus.
fundingNone.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.