University of California Irvine, Program in Public Health, Irvine, California.
Stanford University, School of Medicine, Stanford, California.
Birth Defects Res. 2017 Oct 2;109(16):1277-1283. doi: 10.1002/bdr2.1072. Epub 2017 Jul 19.
The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 (hereafter referred to as 9/11) preceded an increase in male fetal deaths and reduced male live births among exposed gestational cohorts across several geographic locations in the United States, including California. We analyze whether the extreme stressor of 9/11 may have selected against frail males in utero by testing if the prevalence of male births with selected defects in California fell among cohorts exposed to the stressor during gestation.
We used data from the California Birth Defects Monitoring Program from July 1985 to January 2004 (223 conception cohorts). We included six birth defects that as a group of phenotypes disproportionately affect males. We applied time-series methods and defined as "exposed to 9/11" the cohorts conceived in February, March, April, May, June, July, and August 2001.
Three of the seven monthly conception cohorts exposed to 9/11 in utero show lower than expected odds of live born males with the studied defects: February 2001 (odds ratio [OR] = 0.39; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.21-0.71), May 2001 (OR = 0.36; 95% CI, 0.16-0.81), and August 2001 (OR = 0.51; 95% CI, 0.28-0.93).
The population-wide stressor of 9/11 precedes a reduction in the risk of live born males with selected birth defects. Our analysis contributes to the understanding of adaptation to stress among pregnant women exposed to large and unexpected ambient stressors. Results further support the notion that the prevalence of live born defects may reflect temporal variation in cohort selection in utero against frail males. Birth Defects Research 109:1277-1283, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
2001 年 9 月 11 日（以下简称 9/11）的恐怖袭击发生之前，在美国的几个地理位置，包括加利福尼亚州，暴露于妊娠期队列的男性胎儿死亡人数增加，男性活产人数减少。我们通过测试加利福尼亚州暴露于应激源的妊娠队列中是否有特定缺陷的男性出生比例下降，来分析 9/11 这一极端应激源是否会使宫内虚弱的男性受到选择压力。
我们使用了 1985 年 7 月至 2004 年 1 月期间加利福尼亚州出生缺陷监测计划的数据（223 个受孕队列）。我们包括了六个作为表型的出生缺陷，这些缺陷不成比例地影响男性。我们应用了时间序列方法，并将 2001 年 2 月、3 月、4 月、5 月、6 月、7 月和 8 月受孕的队列定义为“暴露于 9/11”。
在宫内暴露于 9/11 的七个月受孕队列中，有三个队列的活产男性出现研究缺陷的几率低于预期：2001 年 2 月（比值比[OR] = 0.39；95%置信区间[CI]，0.21-0.71），2001 年 5 月（OR = 0.36；95% CI，0.16-0.81）和 2001 年 8 月（OR = 0.51；95% CI，0.28-0.93）。
9/11 这一全人群应激源先于特定出生缺陷的活产男性风险降低。我们的分析有助于理解暴露于大的、意外环境应激源的孕妇对压力的适应。结果进一步支持了这样的观点，即活产缺陷的流行率可能反映了宫内对虚弱男性的群体选择的时间变化。出生缺陷研究 109:1277-1283，2017。 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
