Male fetal loss in the US following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
Male fetal loss in the US following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
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DOI：
10.1186/1471-2458-10-273
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发表时间：
2010-05-25
影响因子：
4.5
通讯作者：
Ahern, Jennifer
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bruckner, Tim A.;Catalano, Ralph;Ahern, Jennifer
背景：据报道，在自然灾害、污染事件和经济崩溃之后，第二性别比(即男性出生的几率)有所下降。目前尚不清楚这一下降是由于男性胎儿丢失过多还是男性受孕减少所致。关于2001年9月11日的恐怖袭击是否导致了“集体丧亲”，或者从未见过直接参与袭击的人普遍感到痛苦，文献也没有统一。我们通过检验2001年9月11日之后美国男性胎儿死亡是否高于预期水平来检验集体丧亡假说。方法：我们应用中断时间序列方法对1996-2002年间美国所有怀孕20周或以上的胎儿死亡进行研究。时间序列方法控制趋势、季节性和其他可能导致虚假关联的自相关形式。结果：结果支持2001年9月胎儿死亡性别比(即男性胎儿死亡的几率)高于其期望值的假设。对第二性别比的额外分析间接支持了恐怖袭击可能比女性胎儿更多地威胁到男性的怀孕。结论：社会对2001年9月11日事件的反应似乎不仅仅局限于见过死者的人。美国人口中的胎儿死亡性别比可以作为孕妇对人口压力反应程度的前哨指标。
Background: The secondary sex ratio (i.e., the odds of a male birth) reportedly declines following natural disasters, pollution events, and economic collapse. It remains unclear whether this decline results from an excess of male fetal loss or reduced male conceptions. The literature also does not converge as to whether the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 induced "communal bereavement", or the widespread feeling of distress among persons who never met those directly involved in the attacks. We test the communal bereavement hypothesis among gravid women by examining whether male fetal deaths rose above expected levels in the US following September 11, 2001.Methods: We apply interrupted time-series methods to all fetal deaths at or greater than the 20(th) week of gestation in the US from 1996 to 2002. Time-series methods control for trends, seasonality, and other forms of autocorrelation that could induce spurious associations.Results: Results support the hypothesis in that the fetal death sex ratio (i.e., the odds of a male fetal death) increased above its expected value in September 2001. Additional analysis of the secondary sex ratio indirectly supports that the terrorist attacks may have threatened the gestation of male more than female fetuses.Conclusions: Societal responses to events such as September 11, 2001 do not appear confined only to persons who have ever met the deceased. The fetal death sex ratio in the US population may serve as a sentinel indicator of the degree to which pregnant women react to population stressors.