Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39450615›Full record

ArticleAmerican journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council2025

The Secondary Sex Ratio and Male Mortality at Pre-Reproductive Ages: A Test of Selection In Utero.

Jason Bonham, Ryan Schacht, Ken Smith, Tim A Bruckner

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. In Utero Selection Echoes Across a Lifetime: Evidence From Historical Utah Populations.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Jason BonhamDepartment of Sociology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9213-2243
Ryan SchachtDepartment of Anthropology, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Ken SmithFamily and Consumer Studies, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Tim A BrucknerJoe C. Wen School of Population and Public Health, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.

Funding

Selection in utero and consequences for sex differences in adult mortality: a cohort approachR21AG067247 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · PI BRUCKNER, TIM ALLEN · 2021 to 2022
$436k
Neighborhood opportunity and child health using a randomized trial of low-income mothersR21HD107508 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · PI BRUCKNER, TIM ALLEN · 2022 to 2023
$434k
NIA NIH HHS R21 AG067247NIA NIH HHS R21AG067247NICHD NIH HHS R21 HD107508
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesThe secondary sex ratio (i.e., the ratio of male to female live births; hereafter referred to as the SSR) falls in populations encountering ambient stressors. Much theory and some empirical work indicates that males born to low SSR cohorts may be "positively selected" in that excess culling in utero may correspond with greater than expected survival among live-born males in that cohort. We extend prior work by testing, in historical Utah, whether the SSR varies positively with male mortality at pre-reproductive ages.

methodsThis study uses detailed records from the Utah Population Database to focus on Utahns born 1850-1940. We use rigorous time-series methods, which control for strong secular declines in mortality as well as ambient perturbations shared equally among males and females, to investigate the male culling inference.

resultsWe observe a positive relation between the SSR and male mortality during youth (i.e., 5 to < 20 years; p < 0.05) but not in infancy or early childhood.

conclusionsIn this historical population, the SSR appears to gauge hardiness of surviving male cohorts. However, whether the high fertility and/or family structure context of Latter-day Saints in historical Utah explains the age-specific pattern of male mortality warrants further scrutiny.

Indexed as

MortalitySex RatioAdolescentAdultChildChild, PreschoolFemaleHistory, 19th CenturyHumansInfantInfant, NewbornMaleSelection, GeneticUtahYoung Adulthistoric datamortalityselection in uterosex ratio

Identifiers

PMID39450615
PMCPMC11847575

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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.