Effects of fetal sex and dexamethasone on preterm maternal serum concentrations of human chorionic gonadotropin, progesterone, estrone, estradiol, and estriol.

The serum human chorionic gonadotropin concentration for the 43 female-bearing gestations was significantly higher (geometric mean 15,603 mIU/ml; 95% confidence interval 12,337 to 19,733) than that for 26 male-bearing pregnancies (geometric mean 8902 mIU/ml; 95% confidence interval 6288 to 12,596), p = 0.0087. The mean gestational age was 32 +/- 2.4 weeks (mean +/- SD). There was no significant difference between male- and female-bearing pregnancies for progesterone, cortisol, estrone, estradiol, estriol, or gestational age. In 19 placebo-treated pregnancies and 14 dexamethasone-treated pregnancies with a mean gestational age of 31.5 +/- 2.7 weeks, there was no significant change from the baseline value observed for either maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin level or maternal serum progesterone level at 42 hours after institution of treatment. In the dexamethasone-treated subjects the geometric mean was reduced to 20% of baseline for cortisol; 42% of baseline for estrone; 30% of baseline for estradiol; and 41% of baseline for estriol (all p less than 0.001).