Publication Date

2016

Journal Title

J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To predict the sex of newborns using first trimester fetal heart rate (FHR). METHODS: This was a retrospective review of medical records and ultrasounds performed between 8 and 13 weeks of gestation. Continuous variables were compared using Student's t-tests while categorical variables were compared using Chi-square test. RESULTS: We found no significant differences between 332 (50.7%) female and 323 (49.3%) male FHRs during the first trimester. The mean FHR for female fetuses was 167.0 +/- 9.1 bpm and for male fetuses 167.3 +/- 10.1 bpm (p = 0.62). There was no significant difference in crown rump length between female and male fetuses (4.01 +/- 1.7 versus 3.98 +/- 1.7 cm; p = 0.78) or in gestational age at birth (38.01 +/- 2.1 versus 38.08 +/- 2.1 weeks; p = 0.67). The males were significantly heavier than females (3305.3 +/- 568.3 versus 3127.5 +/- 579.8 g; p < 0.0001) but there were no differences in the proportion of small for gestational age (SGA), average for gestational age (AGA) and large for gestational age (LGA) infants. CONCLUSIONS: We found no significant difference between the female and male FHR during the first trimester in contrast to the prevailing lay view of females having a faster FHR. The only statistically significant difference was that males weighed more than female newborns.

Volume Number

29

Issue Number

5

Pages

803-6

Document Type

Article

EPub Date

2015/03/11

Status

Faculty

Facility

School of Medicine

Primary Department

Obstetrics and Gynecology

PMID

25754210

DOI

10.3109/14767058.2015.1019457


Share

COinS