Male newborn as a determinant of severe preeclampsia: a case-control study

The association between newborn sex and preeclampsia has not yet been fully investigated. The current study was conducted to assess the association between newborn sex and severe preeclampsia among women in eastern Sudan. A prospective case-control study (300 cases and 600 controls) was conducted at Gadarif Maternity Hospital in eastern Sudan. The cases were women with severe preeclampsia, while the controls were healthy women. Questionnaires were used to collect sociodemographic, clinical, and obstetric data by face-to-face interview, and multivariate binary regression was performed. Parity was significantly lower, whereas the body mass index (BMI) was significantly higher in the cases compared to the controls. Significantly more cases than controls gave birth to a male newborn (209 [69.7%] vs. 327 [54.5%], p ˂ 0.001). The multivariate logistic regression showed that women who gave birth to a male newborn had higher odds of developing severe preeclampsia (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.65, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.14 - 2.39). Other factors that were associated with the development of severe preeclampsia were primiparous (AOR = 2.43, 95% CI = 1.54 - 3.83), increasing BMI (AOR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.07 - 1.17), lower level of education (AOR = 31.9, 95% CI = 18.50 - 55.15), and housewives (AOR = 3.82, 95% CI = 1.74 - 8.41). The study revealed that women who gave birth to a male newborn were at higher risk of having severe preeclampsia than those who gave birth to a female newborn.