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The effect of fetal gender on nuchal translucency at 10–14 weeks of gestation |
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| Authors: | Yung Hang Lam Mary Hoi Yin Tang Chin Peng Lee Sai Yuen Sin Rebecca Tang Hong Soo Wong Sai Fun Wong |
| Institution: | 1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The University of Hong Kong, Tsan Yuk Hospital, Hong Kong, China;2. Kwong Wah Hospital, Hong Kong, China;3. Pamela Youde Eastern Hospital, China;4. Princess Margaret Hospital, Hong Kong, China;5. Tuen Mun Hospital, Hong Kong, China |
| Abstract: | Recent data have suggested that fetal nuchal translucency (NT) is affected by fetal gender. We investigated the size of this effect in 12 189 unselected pregnancies with known normal outcomes that had undergone NT measurements between 10 and 14 weeks of gestation. NT increased with gestation and was converted to multiples of the median (MoM) for the gestational day. The median NT MoM (95% CI) for female fetuses was 0.98 (0.97–0.99). This was significantly lower than that of the male fetuses (1.03; range1.02–1.04) (p<0.0005; Wilcoxon rank-sum test). The gender difference was not observed at 10 weeks but was observed from 11 weeks onwards. There is no obvious explanation for the above findings. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
| Keywords: | nuchal translucency ultrasound gender sex |