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Age−specific incidence for females in the Czech Republic, including synoptic change point (CP, 1990) and reduced change point (CPr) logistic regression models (cf. Table 2).
Source publication
The long-standing higher male birth fraction is considered an indicator of reproduction stability and health. In contrast, a decrease in the male birth fraction has been reported after prenatal exposure to environmental chemical factors. There is generally higher vulnerability of boys to prenatal damage by environmental stress. We formulated a hypo...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... development of thyroid cancer occurrence within the different age−categories cannot be Republic, 1976Republic, −1999 (Figure 2). Change−point for all models: 1990; d90−99=1 for 1990−1999 and d90−99=0 else; time t transformed to move the year 1990 to the origin: t=year− 1990 (year=1976,…,1999, t =−14,…,9); df − degrees of freedom; dev − deviance; t*d90−99 − interaction of time t with time interval d90−99 revealed by analyzing the age−standardized inci− dences. Therefore, we investigated the trends of thyroid cancer incidence in the four 25year age− categories, using synoptic linear logistic change− point models to assess the age−specific trends simultaneously. The question arises whether the observed general increase of the thyroid cancer incidence in all years is uniform or different in the respective age categories, and, especially, whether the additional increase after 1990, which could possibly be attributed to the Chernobyl accident, is dependent on age. From 1976 to 1990, for females, according to our synoptic model for the age−specific data (Table 2 and Figure 3), the global annual increase for the two middle age groups together (25−74) comes to 2.6% per year (p<0.0001). From 1990 on, there is a highly significant addi− tional increase of another 2.6% per year (p=0.0003), probably due to Chernobyl. For the youngest and oldest females, age turned out to be an effect modifier. This can be seen from the sig− nidicant interactions of age with time in Table 2. The accelerated increase of an additional 2.4% (p=0.0081) in young females may be, at least partly, a consequence of the decline in the birth rate, resulting in a higher−than−average demo− graphic aging of this group, and the very strong positive association of thyroid cancer incidence with ...
Context 2
... 599 months, there were a higher number of boys born (51.42%) than girls (48.58%) by 342.1 (2.83%) on average. The only exception was November 1986 (Fig. 3), when the sex ratio reversed: there were actually 125 (1.30%) fewer boys born (49.35%) than girls (50.65%) with a significant difference (P< 0.05). This month was the only one in which the percentage of male births fell below the 50% level out of 600 months from 1950 to 1999. The difference between the numbers of boys in November 1986 and all other months combined was significant (P< 0.05). The number of male births in September or October 1986 did not increase (P> 0.05). The number of girls born in November 1986 did not change (P> 0.05) compared to other Novembers (Fig. ...
Context 3
... 599 months, there were a higher number of boys born (51.42%) than girls (48.58%) by 342.1 (2.83%) on average. The only exception was November 1986 (Fig. 3), when the sex ratio reversed: there were actually 125 (1.30%) fewer boys born (49.35%) than girls (50.65%) with a significant difference (P< 0.05). This month was the only one in which the percentage of male births fell below the 50% level out of 600 months from 1950 to 1999. The difference between the numbers of boys in November 1986 and all other months combined was significant (P< 0.05). The number of male births in September or October 1986 did not increase (P> 0.05). The number of girls born in November 1986 did not change (P> 0.05) compared to other Novembers (Fig. ...
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... harmful environmental factors are known to change the sex ratio in offspring. For example, a lower male birth fraction has been found in children born to parents contaminated by TCDD (dioxin) during the disaster in Seveso, Italy in 1976 [29,30]. Fukuda et al. [21] founda Fig. 3. Graph documenting the reduction of male births in November 1986. The relative number (percent) of male births is plotted for each month during 1950−1999. Red arrows indicate the significantly reduced male birth fraction in November 1986. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.) decrease in the sex ratio among children whose both parents smoked more than 20 cigarettes per day. One possible explanation for the decreased sex ratio in these cases has been suggested by James' hypothesis [31] asfollows. Genetically, the sex of a conceptus is determined at fertilization; however, parental hormone con− centration at conception can perhaps infiuence the determination of sex in the offspring because low concentrations of testosterone and estrogen are associated with origin of daughters [31]. Antiestrogenic and antiandrogenic properties of dioxin [32] and antiestrogenic effect of smoking is well established [33]. Both these harmful fac− tors might reduce the number of male concepts during pre−or peri−conceptional time and change the sex ratio at the very beginning ...
Context 5
... documented a reverse in the newborn sex ratio as a result of decrease in the male birth frac− tion in the Czech Republic 7 months after the Chernobyl explosion. The decrease cannot be explained by premature delivery of the boys, since the number of male births in September or October 1986 did not compensate for the November deficit (see also Fig. 3). Based on these findings, the total number of missing boys in November 1986 could be estimated to be 467 (342.1 ...
Context 6
... strength of our study is its large number of person−years observed: 247,384,706. By compa− rison, the pooled analysis of seven studies, inclu− ding the atomic bomb survivors investigated by Ron and Lubin et al., accounts for only 3 million person−years [25]. However, one weakness of our investigation is the lack of a stratification of the data according to levels of I−131 contamina− tion. Field measurements of ra−dio−iodine can be used only when performed within the first days after an accident, because of the short half−life of Table 2. Model information for the synoptic linear logistic change− point regression model for age−specidic incidence data for females (Figure 3), deviance=87.5, degrees of freedom=88. Table 1. I−131. Although it is known that iodine fallout did not strongly parallel cesium deposition, a cer− tain association of iodine and cesium is to be expected. Therefore, we recommend stratifying the Czech thyroid cancer incidence data by, say, two to five regions according to levels of Cs−137 deposition. If the additional increases in the thy− roid cancer incidence were different in different− ly contaminated regions, this would eventually strengthen the evidence of a causal relationship. In ecological studies one should consider iodine dediciency as a confounder, because iodine defi− ciency could exacerbate thyroid uptake of radioactive iodine. Positive and significant corre− lations of the thyroid cancer incidence with measured or reconstructed I−131 deposition have been reported previously [2,15,26,27]. A moti− vating example for a spatial−temporal approach is shown in Figure 5. In the less contaminated West Bohemia ( [3], Figure 1) no significant broken− stick effect is found, whereas in the remainder of the Czech Republic, in 1990, the trend of thyroid cancer incidence changes its slope ...
Citations
... A pronounced effect on male fetuses was also seen following the 9/11 terror attacks, where across America there was an increased number of females born relative to males suggesting a selective loss of male fetuses (Bruckner et al., 2010). Similar effects were seen in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, but with a selective loss of males who were in their third month of gestation at the time of the incident (Peterka et al., 2004). Other environmental catastrophes such as the ice storm of 1998, superstorm Sandy and hurricane Katrina have been associated with reduced cognitive and language skills in offspring, as well as changes in infant temperament compared to pregnancies carried outside these periods (Laplante et al., 2008;Tees et al., 2010;Zhang et al., 2018). ...
Pre-natal exposure to acute maternal trauma or chronic maternal distress can confer increased risk for psychiatric disorders in later life. Acute maternal trauma is the result of unforeseen environmental or personal catastrophes, while chronic maternal distress is associated with anxiety or depression. Animal studies investigating the effects of pre-natal stress have largely used brief stress exposures during pregnancy to identify critical periods of fetal vulnerability, a paradigm which holds face validity to acute maternal trauma in humans. While understanding these effects is undoubtably important, the literature suggests maternal stress in humans is typically chronic and persistent from pre-conception through gestation. In this review, we provide evidence to this effect and suggest a realignment of current animal models to recapitulate this chronicity. We also consider candidate mediators, moderators and mechanisms of maternal distress, and suggest a wider breadth of research is needed, along with the incorporation of advanced -omics technologies, in order to understand the neurodevelopmental etiology of psychiatric risk.
... In contrast to those numerous sex odds increases after Chernobyl, Peterka et al. [26] reported a unique proportion of strongly reduced male live births in November 1986 compared to all other monthly male birth proportions covering 50 years from 1950 to 1999 in the Czech Republic. They hypothesized a possible selective effect of the Chernobyl accident on male fetuses during the third month of prenatal development leading to a loss of the male gender at birth. ...
In Europe, the male to female ratio at birth (secondary sex ratio: SSR; sex odds: SO) is 1.04-1.06, is influenced by many factors and is declining in industrialized countries. This study was carried out to identify possible impacts of fallout by atomic bomb tests or by the Chernobyl event on SSR in Italy. Italy is a country without commercial nuclear power generation for the last four decades and thus nearly free of radiological confounders. Counts of annual male and female live births in Italy are provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) and by the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT). This study included 57.7 million live births (1940-2019) with overall SSR 1.05829. The Italian SSR trend was modelled with linear and non-linear logistic regression. Trend changes, i.e., periods with level shifts were estimated with Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). Two distinct idealized level shifts were identified superimposed on a uniform secular downward trend. The first one is seen towards the end of the 1960s with a jump sex odds ratio (SOR) 1.00681, p < 0.0001. The second one occurred in 1987 with SOR 1.00474, p < 0.0001. In each of the 3 periods separated by the two jumps, SSR uniformly decreased with trend SOR per 100 years of 0.98549, p < 0.0001. In conclusion, the secular trend in the Italian SSR showed two marked level shifts, at the end of the 1960s and from 1987 onward. These follow the release of radioactivity by atmospheric atomic bomb tests during the 1960s and by Chernobyl in 1986 and corroborate the hypothesis that ionizing radiation increases SSR.
... Famous environmental disasters include the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in Ukraine on April 26, 1986. The resulting effects on human health included an increased rate of spontaneous abortions, including an excess loss of 400 male fetuses following first-trimester exposure, and sexratio disturbances observed throughout Northern Europe followed by increased rates of thyroid cancer [1][2][3][4][5] . ...
Objective
Environmental disasters are anthropogenic catastrophic events that affect health. Famous disasters include the Chernobyl and Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear meltdowns, which had disastrous health consequences. Traditional methods for studying environmental disasters are costly and time-intensive. We propose the use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) and informatics methods to study the health effects of emergent environmental disasters in a cost-effective manner.
Materials and Methods
An emergent environmental disaster is exposure to Perfluoralkyl Substances (PFAS) in the Philadelphia area. Penn Medicine (PennMed) comprises multiple hospitals and facilities within the Philadelphia Metropolitan area, including over three thousand PFAS-exposed women living in one of the highest PFAS exposure areas nationwide. We developed a high-throughput method that utilizes only EHR data to evaluate the disease risk in this heavily exposed population.
Results
We replicated all five disease/conditions implicated by PFAS exposure, including hypercholesterolemia, proteinuria, thyroid disease, kidney disease and colitis, either directly or via closely related diagnoses.
Discussion
Using EHRs coupled with informatics enables the health impacts of environmental disasters to be more easily studied in large cohorts versus traditional methods that rely on interviews and expensive serum-based testing. By reducing cost and increasing the diversity of individuals included in studies, we can overcome many of the hurdles faced by previous studies, including a lack of racial and ethnic diversity.
Conclusion
This proof-of-concept study confirms that EHRs can be used to study human health and disease impacts of environmental disasters and produces equivalent disease-exposure knowledge to prospective epidemiology studies while remaining cost-effective.
KEY MESSAGES
Electronic Health Records can be used for studying health effects of environmental exposures
PFAS exposure - disease associations were mainly replicated using EHRs
EHRs represent a cost-effective method to augment traditional epidemiology studies
... The second mechanism explaining why air pollution can affect the sex ratio is motivated by the fact that male fetuses are more vulnerable and thus more prone to miscarriages (Catalano, 2003;Peterka et al., 2004;Helle et al., 2008). Worse quality of air can cause miscarriages, and since boys are more likely to be a miscarriage, they should be affected more frequently. ...
The Trivers–Willard Hypothesis (TWH) states that parents in good conditions bias the sex ratio towards sons and parents in poor conditions bias the sex ratio towards daughters. This study used data from a large nationwide population dataset (N=1,401,851) from the Czech Republic – a modern contemporary society. The study included air pollution and property prices in the TWH estimation, and had a more detailed focus on stillbirths than previous studies. Using official natality microdata from the Czech Statistical Office for years between 1992 and 2010 and data on levels of air pollution in the country over the same period, the study assessed whether the biological and socioeconomic status of mothers and environmental factors affected the sex of children. The results were largely insignificant and not robust across specifications. The presented epidemiological evidence suggests that stillbirths are randomly distributed in the Czech Republic and that the sex ratio is not affected by the socioeconomic status of mothers or by environmental characteristics.
... ниже). Связь пренатального стресса как высокой, так и средней модальности со смещенным в сторону преобладания самок со-отношением полов при рождении была показана в популяциях людей ( Peterka et al., 2004;Obel et al., 2007). Не исключено, что более частое рожде-ние девочек в некоторых странах является след-ствием стрессов, испытываемых матерями в пе-риод беременности ( Obel et al., 2007). ...
... Кроме того, имеют место различные нару-шения функционирования ГГНС (O'Connor et al., 2005;Yehuda et al., 2005;Huizink et al., 2008;Van Den Bergh et al., 2008;Entringer et al., 2009). Отме-чено более редкое рождение сыновей, что являет-ся, по-видимому, следствием перераспределения репродуктивного вклада в потомков в пользу до-черей как более перспективного пола в условиях стресса ( Peterka et al., 2004;Obel et al., 2007). ...
В биомедицинской науке последствия стресса в раннем онтогенезе в большинстве случаев рассматриваются как негативные для организма, вызывающие нарушения развития репродуктивных функций, иммунной, нейроэндокринной систем, мозга и поведения, включая когнитивные способности
и устойчивые расстройства психики. На этом фоне набирают силу исследования, обсуждающие последствия ранних стрессов с позиции их возможной адаптивности, оцениваемой как увеличение приспособленности (fitness) в текущем и последующих поколениях. В обзоре дано краткое описание основных механизмов обусловленного материнским стрессом онтогенетического программирования организма потомка на основе обобщающих работ по млекопитающим. Основное же вни
мание уделено экспериментам в природе, либо экспериментам, моделирующим природную ситуацию, в которых на некоторых видах позвоночных животных были исследованы последствия
материнских стрессов для потомков на фоне контролируемых изменений среды обитания, включая и среду социальную. Фенотипически проявляющиеся у потомков последствия ранних стрессов оказываются полезными для них (адаптивными) в тех случаях, когда условия среды (в т. ч. социальной), в которой существовал организм матери в период формирования яйца или беременности и сразу после рождения выводка, соответствуют условиям среды их будущей жизни. Для матери стрессовые состояния, транслируемые потомкам, могут быть выгодны, поскольку оптимизируют затраты на текущее размножение и в конечном счете могут повышать ее совокупную приспособлен-
ность независимо от того, повышают они или понижают приспособленность потомков в ближайшей перспективе. Эволюционно-экологический подход в изучении последствий ранних стрессов может быть полезным для понимания процессов формирования здоровья человека. Накопленные
на сегодня данные вселяют надежду на то, что будет наконец достигнуто понимание необходимости сокращения несоответствия между пренатальной и будущей средой жизни человека, несоответствия, существенно повышающего риски заболеваний в зрелом возрасте.
... ниже). Связь пренатального стресса как высокой, так и средней модальности со смещенным в сторону преобладания самок со-отношением полов при рождении была показана в популяциях людей ( Peterka et al., 2004;Obel et al., 2007). Не исключено, что более частое рожде-ние девочек в некоторых странах является след-ствием стрессов, испытываемых матерями в пе-риод беременности ( Obel et al., 2007). ...
... Кроме того, имеют место различные нару-шения функционирования ГГНС (O'Connor et al., 2005;Yehuda et al., 2005;Huizink et al., 2008;Van Den Bergh et al., 2008;Entringer et al., 2009). Отме-чено более редкое рождение сыновей, что являет-ся, по-видимому, следствием перераспределения репродуктивного вклада в потомков в пользу до-черей как более перспективного пола в условиях стресса ( Peterka et al., 2004;Obel et al., 2007). ...
В биомедицинской науке последствия стресса в раннем онтогенезе в большинстве случаев рассматриваются как негативные для организма, вызывающие нарушения развития репродуктивных функций, иммунной, нейроэндокринной систем, мозга и поведения, включая когнитивные способности
и устойчивые расстройства психики. На этом фоне набирают силу исследования, обсуждающие последствия ранних стрессов с позиции их возможной адаптивности, оцениваемой как увеличение приспособленности (fitness) в текущем и последующих поколениях. В обзоре дано краткое описание основных механизмов обусловленного материнским стрессом онтогенетического программирования организма потомка на основе обобщающих работ по млекопитающим. Основное же
внимание уделено экспериментам в природе, либо экспериментам, моделирующим природную ситуацию, в которых на некоторых видах позвоночных животных были исследованы последствия материнских стрессов для потомков на фоне контролируемых изменений среды обитания, включая и среду социальную. Фенотипически проявляющиеся у потомков последствия ранних стрессов оказываются полезными для них (адаптивными) в тех случаях, когда условия среды (в т. ч. социальной), в которой существовал организм матери в период формирования яйца или беременности и сразу после рождения выводка, соответствуют условиям среды их будущей жизни. Для матери стрессовые состояния, транслируемые потомкам, могут быть выгодны, поскольку оптимизируют затраты на текущее размножение и в конечном счете могут повышать ее совокупную приспособлен ность независимо от того, повышают они или понижают приспособленность потомков в ближайшей перспективе. Эволюционно-экологический подход в изучении последствий ранних стрессов может быть полезным для понимания процессов формирования здоровья человека. Накопленные на сегодня данные вселяют надежду на то, что будет наконец достигнуто понимание необходимости
сокращения несоответствия между пренатальной и будущей средой жизни человека, несоответствия, существенно повышающего риски заболеваний в зрелом возрасте.
... For comparison of the birth rate between the cleft patients and controls, the control group (including only the new-borns without an orofacial cleft) was formed by subtracting the cleft patients from the total number of live new-borns. [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40], cleft lip and jaw (CL) can be induced by a harmful environmental factor. During critical period II, cleft palate (CP) develops as a result of either hypoplasia of the palatal shelves (period II.aapproximately embryonic day [40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55] and/or by retarded growth of the mandible (period II.bapproximately embryonic day 55-60). ...
... In our country, only one anomaly has been reported; in November 1986, seven months after the Chernobyl nuclear accident and the attendant release of radiation, more than 450 new-born boys were missing. This implies that this month, for the first and only time during the last 50 years, more girls than boys were born in the Czech Republic [6,34]. ...
... It is known that after prenatal exposure to a strong harmful factor, the number of malformed new-borns may decrease [38] as a result of their prenatal abortion (for review see) [39][40][41]. This effect concerns mainly the male fraction [6,34,[42][43][44][45]. ...
Background:
Choosing the optimal season for conception is a part of family planning since it can positively influence the pregnancy outcome. Changes in the monthly number of infants born with a birth defect can signal prenatal damage - death or malformation - related to a harmful seasonal factor. The aim of our paper was to search for possible seasonal differences in the numbers of new-borns with an orofacial cleft and thus for a period of conception that can increase the risk of orofacial cleft development.
Methods:
Mean monthly numbers of live births in the Bohemia region of the Czech Republic during the years 1964-2000 were compared within a group of 5619 new-borns with various types of orofacial clefts and the control group derived from natality data on 3,080,891 new-borns.
Results:
The control group exhibited regular seasonal variation in the monthly numbers of new-borns: significantly more babies born during March-May and fewer babies born during October-December. Similar natural seasonal variation was also found in the group of babies with an orofacial cleft. However, after subdividing the cleft group according to gender and cleft type, in comparison to controls, significant differences appeared in the number of new-born girls with cleft lip during January-March and in the number of boys born with cleft palate in April - May.
Conclusions:
We found significant differences from controls in the number of new-born girls with CL and boys with CP, whose dates of birth correspond to conception from April to August and to the estimated prenatal critical period for cleft formation from May to October. The latter period includes the warm season, when various injurious physical, chemical and biological factors may act on a pregnant woman. This finding should be considered in pregnancy planning. Future studies are necessary to investigate the putative injurious factors during the warm season that can influence pregnancy outcome.
... Nisan 1986'daki Çernobil reaktör kazasından sonra, Çek Cumhuriyeti'nin 1950-1999 yılları arasındaki verilerine göre, 1986 yılının Kasım ayında erkek/kız oranının daha düşük olduğu bulunmuştur. Erkek çocuk doğum sayısındaki bu düşüşün nedeninin, kazanın meydana gelmesinden sonraki altı ay içerisinde erkek fetüslerin negatif seçilimle elenmesi olduğu iddia edilmiştir.[45] Benzer bir çalışma da, Çernobil-Ukrayna'ya komşu sekiz ülkede 1982-1992 yılları arasındaki doğum istatistikleri incelenerek yapılmış; farklı olarak, anlamlı bir sıçrama ile erkek doğum oranının arttığı bulunmuştur.[46] ...
... It is well documented that male fetuses are more responsive to maternal stress than female fetuses, often measured through rates of early pregnancy loss [42,68] or changes to birth weight [48] associated with maternal stress. In terms of birth weight, these changes have tended towards males exhibiting greater lowering of birth weight following stressed gestations. ...
Background and objectives:
Maternal stress can depress birth weight and gestational age, with potential health effects. A growing number of studies examine the effect of maternal stress caused by environmental disasters on birth outcomes. These changes may indicate an adaptive response. In this study, we examine the effects of maternal exposure to wildfire on birth weight and gestational age, hypothesising that maternal stress will negatively influence these measures.
Methodology:
Using data from the Australian Capital Territory, we employed Analysis of Variance to examine the influence of the 2003 Canberra wildfires on mothers being resident in fire-affected regions, while considering the role of other factors.
Results:
We found that male infants born in the most severely fire-affected area had significantly higher average birth weights than their less exposed peers and were also heavier than males born in the same area in non-fire years. Higher average weights were attributable to an increase in the number of macrosomic infants. There was no significant effect on the weight of female infants or on gestational age for either sex.
Conclusions and implications:
Our findings indicate heightened environmental responsivity in the male cohort. We find that elevated maternal stress acted to accelerate the growth of male foetuses, potentially through an elevation of maternal blood glucose levels. Like previous studies, our work finds effects of disaster exposure and suggests that fetal growth patterns respond to maternal signals. However, the direction of the change in birth weight is opposite to that of many earlier studies.
... Exposure to war showed both no increased perinatal mortality (Wilcox et al. 1994) and a significant increase from 23.3/1,000 live births in the prewar period to 25.8/1,000 during the war (p \ 0.001) (Skokic et al. 2006). Exposure to nuclear radiation showed a significant decline in male births after exposure in the first trimester (Peterka et al. 2004), but also no change from baseline in the incidence of spontaneous abortion (Goldhaber et al. 1983). A study on exposure to dioxin after a factory explosion found no increase in odds for birth outcomes (Eskenazi et al. 2003). ...
... Exposure to famine and war were also found to be associated with other mental health, cardiovascular, or metabolic outcomes, with varying degrees of significance. Interestingly, significantly fewer males than females were born approximately 8 months after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, indicating a potentially greater negative impact on male than on female fetuses (Peterka et al. 2004). ...
The aim of this study was to determine the health effects of prenatal exposure to disaster, based on a systematic review of existing research.
A literature search of scientific databases was conducted in February 2015 for articles on prenatal exposure to a natural or man-made disaster. Data was extracted from all articles that met the inclusion criteria, and we systematically analyzed contents based on type of disaster, health outcome, target group and time after birth.
Prenatal exposure to famine or war was found to be associated with mental health, cardiovascular or metabolic outcomes, with varying degrees of significance. The majority of the studies showed limited or weak associations between exposures and outcomes.
Due to the lack of variety in type of events studied, as well as large methodological variation, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions from existing literature. However, our systematic review highlights the potential of evaluating secondary data, both to accentuate research gaps in the field and to increase the understanding of what effects various types of disasters potentially have on the unborn child.
