Fewer boys born in New York after 9/11 attacks

doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7567.516-b

BMJ 2006;333:516 (9 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7567.516-b

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Fewer boys born in New York after 9/11 attacks

Abergavenny Roger Dobson

Anxiety and stress in New York city in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center five years ago may have resulted in the birth of fewer boys months later, research shows.

Based on more than 700 000 births in New York city between January 1996 and June 2002, the study shows that the birth sex ratio for the city dropped to below one in the January after the attacks—its lowest level (Human Reproduction 2006 Aug 26, doi: 10.1093/humrep/del283).

One theory is that the stress of the attack, particularly in women in the second and early third trimesters of their pregnancy, resulted in a disproportionate loss of male fetuses, so lowering the odds of a male birth.

Previous research has suggested that the sex ratio falls in populations subjected to external stressors, with the odds of a male birth falling with earthquakes, political . . . [Full text of this article]

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