Hormonal evidence of selection <i>in utero</i> revisited

Catalano, Ralph; Currier, Robert; Steinsaltz, David

doi:10.1002/ajhb.22655

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…If the children who died were to go on to have poorer health if they had actually survived, then mortality selection could be a mechanism through which selection for fitness is progressed. This type of selection has also been discussed in relation to the association between stressful in utero environment and the proportion of births that are male (Catalano, Currier, & Steinsaltz, ). Demographic transition in the form of reductions in mortality rates, or changes in fertility, could alter this selection process thereby affecting adaptive potential of a population, a phenomenon that has been observed previously (Moorad, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How much does birth weight matter for child health in developing countries? Estimates from siblings and twins

McGovern

2018

Health Economics

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About 200 million children globally are not meeting their growth potential, and as a result will suffer the consequences in terms of future outcomes. I examine the effects of birth weight on child health and growth using information from 66 countries. I account for missing data and measurement error using instrumental variables and adopt an identification strategy based on siblings and twins. I find a consistent effect of birth weight on mortality risk, stunting, wasting, and coughing, with some evidence for fever, diarrhoea, and anaemia. Bounds analysis indicates that coefficients may be substantially underestimated due to mortality selection. Improving the pre‐natal environment is likely to be important for helping children reach their full potential.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How much does birth weight matter for child health in developing countries? Estimates from siblings and twins

McGovern

2018

Health Economics

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“…Theory (Haig, 1999; Schooling, 2014; Stearns, 1987; Trivers & Willard, 1973; Wells, 2000) and empirical work in human populations (Bruckner et al, 2015; Karasek et al, 2015; Orzack et al, 2015) suggest that natural selection has conserved endemic selection in utero that allows women to spontaneously abort gestations least likely to yield grandchildren. Acute stressors on a population appear, moreover, to induce epidemic selection in utero via the maternal stress response that reportedly raises the level of fetal fitness required for a gestation to continue (Catalano & Bruckner, 2006; Catalano et al, 2008; 2009; 2015; Navara, 2014).…”

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confidence: 99%

Twinning in Norway Following the Oslo Massacre: Evidence of a ‘Bruce Effect’ in Humans

et al. 2016

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Emerging theory and empirical work suggest that the 'Bruce Effect', or the increase in spontaneous abortion observed in non-human species when environments become threatening to offspring survival, may also appear in humans. We argue that, if it does, the effect would appear in the odds of twins among male and female live births. We test the hypothesis, implied by our argument, that the odds of a twin among male infants in Norway fell below, while those among females rose above, expected levels among birth cohorts in gestation in July 2011 when a deranged man murdered 77 Norwegians, including many youths. Results support the hypothesis and imply that the Bruce Effect operates in women to autonomically raise the standard of fetal fitness necessary to extend the gestation of twins. This circumstance has implications for using twins to estimate the relative contributions of genes and environment to human responses to exogenous stimuli. Keywords: selection in utero, twins, evolution, Bruce EffectOn July 22, 2011, a deranged man killed eight persons in a bomb attack in Oslo and, 2 hours later, began shooting children and staff at a youth camp on an island near the city. Over the ensuing 90 minutes he killed 69 staff and young people. After the initial killings on the island, the perpetrator reportedly waited for survivors to attempt escape so that he could target them as they swam. Police could not reach the island when the shooting began due to the lack of helicopters and vessels. Hundreds of other people were injured in the attacks, scores of them seriously.The Oslo Massacre elicited strong emotional responses, including fear, heightened threat perception, and grief in the general population (Nordanger et al., 2013;Thoresen et al., 2012). Indeed, one in four Norwegians reportedly knew someone bereaved by the attacks (Thoresen et al., 2012). Whether grief arose solely among those closely tied to the deceased or in the larger population, which included witnesses to the pain of those with close ties, the fraction of Norwegians grieving the death of their young surely reached very high levels in late summer of 2011.Dating at least to the work of Bruce (1959), researchers have noted that in several non-human species, environmental threats to the survival of young, proximate conspecifics appear to induce spontaneous abortion in gravid females, both under laboratory conditions and in the wild (Becker & Hurst, 2008;Cheney & Seyfarth, 2009;Labov, 1981;Roberts et al., 2012;Rulicke et al., 2006). Labov (1981) infers that this 'Bruce Effect' functions as an adaptive strategy to limit female investment in offspring likely to die in environments prevailing at birth. In non-human animals, the Bruce Effect may provide a female counterstrategy to infanticide, or may be an adaptive strategy to limit investment in gestations that face a high risk of death (Labov, 1981). Mechanisms associated with the Bruce Effect likely include the endocrine stress response (Beehner et al., 2005;Cheney & Seyfarth, 2009), suggesting that the Bruce Eff...

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“…Furthermore, it has been proposed that high circulating glucose levels caused by maternal stress favor the development of male blastocysts rather than female blastocysts due to sex differences in the rate of glucose uptake (33, 34). However, persistent maternal stress during early pregnancy, which is recognized as a predictor for spontaneous abortion that disproportionately affects male conceptuses, may compensate for the male-biased PSR, or even result in an excess of female births (35, 36). Given that salivary cortisol is a marker for chronic stress, which represents the HPA axis activity, rather than a marker for acute stress (26), the inverse association between maternal preconception salivary cortisol levels and the odds of a male birth observed in the OCS cohort may not be considered unexpected.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With the accumulated evidence on maternal stress and the reversal of the SSR, some of these studies have examined whether the decline in the odds of a male birth resulted from an excess of male fetal loss or reduced male conceptions, suggestive of the fetal death sex ratio as a sentinel indicator of population stress reactivity (22, 23). Furthermore, subsequent research has examined whether stressful times make male fetuses less fit or male fetuses need greater fitness to avoid spontaneous abortion during stressful times, supporting that the latter mechanism is responsible for reducing the SSR (36). Still, controversy remains over underlying biological mechanisms that link stressors to spontaneous abortion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, maternal stress results in high circulating glucose levels, which may be related to the development of male blastocysts relative to female blastocysts, possibly due to sex differences in the rate of glucose uptake (33, 34). However, as pregnancy continues, persistent maternal stress, especially during early pregnancy, may reduce or reverse an excess of male births, because it may be related to selective male losses relative to female losses (35, 36). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Preconception stress and the secondary sex ratio in a population-based preconception cohort

Bae

Lynch

Kim

et al. 2017

Fertility and Sterility

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Objective To examine the association between preconception parental stress and the secondary sex ratio (SSR), defined as the ratio of males to females at birth. Design A population-based preconception cohort. Setting Couples were interviewed separately at baseline to obtain information on perceived stress (Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale) and lifetime history of physician-diagnosed anxiety and/or mood disorders. Female partners were also trained to collect basal saliva samples for the measurement of salivary stress markers, alpha-amylase and cortisol. Patients/Animals 235 couples who were enrolled prior to conception in Michigan and Texas between 2005 and 2009 and who had a singleton birth during the follow-up period. Intervention(s) None. Main Outcome Measure(s) Birth outcome data including infant sex were collected upon delivery. Modified Poisson regression models were used to estimate the relative risks (RRs) of a male birth for each stress marker. Results After adjusting for potential confounders, we observed a 76 percent increase in the risk of fathering a male infant (RR, 1.76; 95% CI, 1.17–2.65) in men diagnosed with anxiety disorders compared to those who were not diagnosed. When lifetime history of physician-diagnosed anxiety disorders was modeled jointly for the couple, the association was slightly strengthened (RR, 2.03; 95% CI, 1.46–2.84). Conclusion This prospective cohort study suggests that paternal lifetime history of physician-diagnosed anxiety disorders may be associated with an increase in the SSR, resulting in an excess of male births.

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Hormonal evidence of selection in utero revisited

Cited by 10 publications

References 31 publications

How much does birth weight matter for child health in developing countries? Estimates from siblings and twins

How much does birth weight matter for child health in developing countries? Estimates from siblings and twins

Twinning in Norway Following the Oslo Massacre: Evidence of a ‘Bruce Effect’ in Humans

Preconception stress and the secondary sex ratio in a population-based preconception cohort

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