The relationship between fetal gender and pregnancy outcome

Background: Genesis 3:16 is the passage usually quoted by those who believe women have been cursed to give birth in pain. God punished Eve that she will have increased (painful) labor, after she was beguiled by the serpent and ate the forbidden fruit of knowledge. The Lord God said "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children". Nevertheless, the word translated as "children" is the Hebrew word "banim" which means "boys". Indeed, most interpreters translated boys as children. Yet, there is gaining scientific evidence that the gender does matter. Objective: The present Editorial will discuss gender differences in perinatal medicine. Conclusions: Male gender is an independent risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcome. Further research including endocrine and immunological tests is needed to clarify gender differences in birth outcome.