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Parental age and birth order in Chinese children with congenital heart disease.

Parental age and birth order were studied in 100 Chinese children with congenital heart disease (proven by cardiac catheterisation) and in 100 controls. A higher incidence of congenital heart disease was present in the children with higher birth orders. No relationship was found between the incidence and the paternal or maternal ages. Using the method of multiple regression analysis this birth order effect was significant (p less than 0.01) and independent of parental age. This finding provides indirect evidence of environmental influence in the causation of congenital heart disease, which is known to be inherited in a multifactorial manner. Family planning to limit the size of the family may possibly contribute to the reduction of the incidence of congenital heart disease.

Adult↗

Birth order and maternal age effect in dementia of the Alzheimer type.

Birth order and maternal age were unrelated to dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) in a study of 42 probands with clinically diagnosed DAT and 42 age-matched control subjects. Mean birth order in both groups did not differ significantly from the general population. The mean maternal age for the DAT probands was neither significantly different from that for the controls nor from that for the 1920 U.S. Caucasian population. Since the diagnostic criteria for the DAT group were only clinical, an additional 14 probands with DAT confirmed by autopsy were studied. Mean maternal age did not differ significantly in this group from the controls, the general population, or the clinically diagnosed DAT group. It was concluded that maternal age and birth order bear no special relationship to DAT in this sample.

Aged↗

Paternal-age and birth-order effect on the human secondary sex ratio.

Because of conflicting results in previous analyses of possible maternal and paternal effects on the variation in sex ratio at birth, records of United States live births in 1975 were sorted by offspring sex, live birth order (based on maternal parity), parental races, and, unlike prior studies, ungrouped parental ages. Linear regression and logistic analysis showed significant effects of birth order and paternal age on sex ratio in the white race data (1.67 million births; 10,219 different combinations of independent variables). Contrary to previous reported results, the paternal-age effect cannot be ascribed wholly to the high correlation between paternal age and birth order as maternal age, even more highly correlated with birth order, does not account for a significant additional reduction in sex-ratio variation over that accounted for by birth order alone.

Adolescent↗

Birth order in girls with gender identity disorder.

This study examined the birth order of girls with gender identity disorder (N = 22). Each proband was matched to 3-7 clinical control girls for age at assessment and number of siblings (the mode number of controls per proband was 7) (total N = 147). The number of older brothers, older sisters, younger brothers, and younger sisters was recorded. Slater's birth order index showed that the probands were significantly more likely to be early born than were the controls. A modified Slater's index also compared the birth order of the probands and the controls only to their brothers (when they had one or more) and only to their sisters (when they had one or more). Compared to the controls, the probands were born early compared to their sisters, but not to their brothers. These findings are the inverse of two previous studies of boys with gender identity disorder, who were later born relative to clinical control boys, an effect that appeared to be accounted for primarily by being born later relative to older brothers, but not to older sisters.

Adolescent↗

Birth order and a two-dimensional assessment of personality.

Higher order personality dimensions of extraversion-introversion and neuroticism were studied as functions of birth order in two-sib families, using 141 female subjects, with control over sex of sibling and sib age separation. No significant personality dimension variance was attributable to birth order in females. The results were considered briefly in terms of the importance of birth order, heritability questions, and the possible contribution of birth order to lower order traits.

Age Factors↗

Relationship between birth order of spouses with different degrees of consanguineous relationship.

The relationship between birth order of spouses with different degrees of consanguinity is examined in a sample of 1826 couples belonging to the endogamous Vadde Fisherfolk of Kolleru Lake, Andhra Pradesh, India. We attempt to explain the wide variation in the frequency of different kinds of consanguineous marriages through the age-sex structure of the population in general and especially of the related families. This structure may also be manifested in the association between the birth orders of spouses. A highly significant and large correlation between the birth orders of spouses in uncle-niece marriages and a gradual decrease in the correlation with increase in remoteness of the relationship between the spouses were observed. Given the distribution of age differences between the spouses and assuming a standard age-sex structure, it seems possible to estimate the optimum frequency with which at least close consanguineous marriages occur in any particular population.

Age Factors↗

Birth order among homosexual men.

Nicolosi and Byrd in 2002 summarized empirical research on birth order and sexual orientation in men, which research has documented that homosexual men have a later birth order than heterosexual men. They did not, however, note a more refined analysis of an earlier null finding by Siegelman. This 1998 reanalysis by Blanchard, Zucker, Siegelman, Dickey, and Klassen also confirmed the later birth order of homosexual men.

Adult↗

Birth order in transgendered males from Polynesia: a quantitative study of Samoan fa'afāfine.

In previous research, a late birth order has been shown to be a characteristic of Western homosexual transsexual men. To date, however, it is not clear if a late birth order is specific to Western transsexuals or may be a characteristic of non-Western transgendered males as well. We quantified birth order in a sample of 13 transgendered males known as fa'afāfine from Samoa. On average, the fa'afāfine were late born, both with regard to number of older brothers and number of older sisters, although the effect appeared to be somewhat stronger with regard to number of older brothers. We consider possible interpretations of the late birth order effect, along with recommendations for further research to identify common mechanisms that might underlie transgenderism across different cultural groups.

Adolescent↗

The secondary sex ratio in the United States 1969-71: association with race, parental ages, birth order, paternal education and legitimacy.

The simultaneous effects of several variables on the secondary sex ratio have been examined using data from over 5,000,000 births which occurred in the United States during 1969-71. The previously described negative association of birth order and sex ratio has been confirmed. For legitimate and illegitimate births combined, maternal age and paternal age are unimportant factors once account is made of birth order. This pattern obtains for both blacks and whites. The sex ratio for legitimate and illegitimate births is equivalent but the fact of legitimacy or illegitimacy may affect the association of the ratio with birth order and the parental ages. Paternal education is not significantly related to the ratio, but the highest probability of a male birth is found among fathers with intermediate levels of attainment. Even though the association between sex ratio and order of birth is highly significant in the statistical sense, the proportion of male births changes less than 2% over the extreme values of birth order. Furthermore, it is emphasized that the association accounts for only a very minor (less than 10%) proportion of the total variation in the ratio.

Birth Order↗

Birth order and hand preference in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): implications for pathological models of handedness in humans.

The effect of birth order on hand preference was assessed in a sample of 154 captive-born chimpanzees. Subjects were classified as first, middle, or latter born using 2 classification criteria based on their birth order. Hand preference was measured using a task that elicited coordinated bimanual actions. Significant birth-order effects were found for both classification criteria, with first- and latter-born subjects exhibiting a lesser degree of right-handedness compared with middle-born subjects. These data suggest that biological rather than sociological factors play a greater role in explaining the observed birth-order effects on hand preference in humans.

Analysis of Variance↗

Birth order and two marketing-related measures of aggression.

Several bodies of research link birth order and aggression. With a sample of 144 women and 225 men business students, the present study investigated birth order and aggression using two measures from academic marketing. Neither measure detected significant influence of birth order. Implications are discussed regarding marketing and consumers' behavior.

Adult↗

Higher maternal age at delivery, and lower birth orders are associated with increased risk of childhood type 1 diabetes mellitus.

In several populations, maternal age at delivery and birth order have been demonstrated to variously affect the risk of Type 1 diabetes mellitus in the offspring. The aim of the present study was to investigate this relation in the Czech population. Questionnaire data on 640 children with childhood-onset Type 1 DM and data on 50 random controls to each case, obtained from the national Birth Registry and matched for the calendar year of birth, were analysed using multivariate logistic regression. The risk of Type 1 DM increases with higher maternal age at birth of the child (OR = 1.07, CI 95 % 1.05 - 1.09 per one year increment), and decreases with higher birth order (OR = 0.70, CI 95 % 0.62 - 0.79 per increment in birth order). There was no significant difference in these effects across the five-years bands of age at diabetes onset. We detected no independent effect of maternal education, either. Our study provides further evidence that the risk of Type 1 diabetes in the offspring increases with higher maternal age at delivery and lower birth order.

Adult↗

Maternal-fetal interactions and birth order influence insulin variable number of tandem repeats allele class associations with head size at birth and childhood weight gain.

Polymorphism of the insulin gene (INS) variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR; class I or class III alleles) locus has been associated with adult diseases and with birth size. Therefore, this variant is a potential contributory factor to the reported fetal origins of adult disease. In the population-based Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood birth cohort, we have confirmed in the present study the association between the INS VNTR III/III genotype and larger head circumference at birth (odds ratio [OR] 1.92, 95% CI 1.23-3.07; P = 0.004) and identified an association with higher cord blood IGF-II levels (P = 0.05 to 0.0001). The genotype association with head circumference was influenced by maternal parity (birth order): the III/III OR for larger head circumference was stronger in second and subsequent pregnancies (OR 5.0, 95% CI 2.2-11.5; P = 0.00003) than in first pregnancies (1.2, 0.6-2.2; P = 0.8; interaction with birth order, P = 0.02). During childhood, the III/III genotype remained associated with larger head circumference (P = 0.004) and was also associated with greater BMI (P = 0.03), waist circumference (P = 0.03), and higher fasting insulin levels in girls (P = 0.02). In addition, there were interactions between INS VNTR genotype and early postnatal weight gain in determining childhood BMI (P = 0.001 for interaction), weight (P = 0.005), and waist circumference (P = 0.0005), such that in the approximately 25% of children (n = 286) with rapid early postnatal weight gain, class III genotype-negative children among this group gained weight more rapidly. Our results indicate that complex prenatal and postnatal gene-maternal/fetal interactions influence size at birth and childhood risk factors for adult disease.

Birth Order↗

Effect of fathers' age and birth order on occurrence of congenital heart disease.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The aim was to examine if there is an effect of fathers' age and of birth order on the occurrence of congenital heart disease. DESIGN: This was a hospital based case-referent study including use of birth defects surveillance data. SUBJECTS: Subjects were 497 cases of congenital heart disease aged between 3 months and 5 years, born in Beijing and Hebei Province, China; 6222 children without congenital heart disease serve as reference baseline. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: With stratified analysis and logistic regression analyses, congenital heart disease was found to be associated with fathers' age less than 25 years (odds ratio 2.63), independent of mothers' age and of birth order. There was also evidence to show a higher birth order effect on the occurrence of congenital heart disease independent of parental ages. CONCLUSION: Higher birth order and fathers aged less than 25 years were both independently associated with some categories of congenital heart disease and with congenital heart disease overall.

Birth Order↗

The effect of age on the relationship between birth order and immunoglobulin E sensitization.

BACKGROUND: An association between birth order and IgE sensitization or allergic diseases has been reported in many studies. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of age on the relationship between reduced IgE sensitization and increased birth order and to test the hypothesis that this would decline with increasing age. METHODS: As part of a birth cohort study, IgE sensitization to common allergens was determined by skin prick testing at ages 6 and 12 months, 6 and 11 years. RESULTS: The original cohort numbered 253 individuals of whom 96 (38%) were first born. Compared with individuals with older siblings, first-born individuals had increased IgE sensitization at 6 (odds ratio (OR) 2.4 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.0, 6.3], P=0.05, n=197) and 12 months of age (OR 6.7 [1.7, 25.0] P=0.002, n=172) and at 6 years of age (OR 2.3 [1.0, 5.6] P=0.05, n=113) but not at 11 years of age (OR 1.2, P>0.4, n=182). When age at onset of IgE sensitization was considered (n=61), 16 had infant onset IgE sensitization (nine were first born), 24 had early childhood onset IgE sensitization (nine first born) and 21 had late childhood onset IgE sensitization (two first born), P=0.0016. Further analysis revealed a similar pattern for children with older brothers (P=0.0097) but not older sisters (P=0.5). CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicated that having an older brother delays the onset of IgE sensitization but may not prevent IgE sensitization per se. The apparent protective effect of older siblings on allergic diseases reported elsewhere might involve delaying the onset of IgE sensitization.

Age of Onset↗

The effect of birth order on the occurrence of developmental language impairment.

The birth order of second-grade children with and without developmental language impairment was obtained to determine if language-impaired children were more likely to be later born than earlier born. In this study the family size and socioeconomic status of the families for the language-impaired and normal groups were very similar. Comparison of the distribution of birth ranks between second-grade language-impaired and normal second-grade children failed to show a difference in birth ranks. Further, the distribution of birth ranks of all language-impaired children within the sibships was not found to show evidence favouring either early or later born birth ranks. Thus, contrary to previous research in which family size and socioeconomic status were not controlled, this study did not provide evidence in support of a birth order effect in developmental language impairment.

Birth Order↗

Birth order and academic achievement of children in Transkei.

This study investigated the relationship between birth order and academic achievement of 1021 randomly chosen Standard 7 pupils in Transkei, South Africa. The subjects ranged in age from 13 to 17 yr., with a mean of 15.6 yr. Two questionnaires, one for the pupils and the other for their parents, were administered to collect information on the birth order of children. Analysis of variance indicated a significant negative relationship between birth order of children and their academic achievement.

Achievement↗

The interaction of birth order and parental age on sexual orientation: an examination in two samples.

A birth order and sexual orientation relationship has been demonstrated numerous times in men, but a related variable, parental age (i.e. age of parents when the participant was born), has been less studied and has demonstrated contradictory results. In this research, the relations among birth order, parental age and sexual orientation were examined in a national probability sample of the US (Kessler, 1994; Kessler et al., 1994) and in a Canadian sample of homosexual and heterosexual men closely matched on demographic characteristics (Blanchard & Bogaert, 1996a). In both studies, an interaction between birth order and parental age was observed in men, such that there was positive association between number of older siblings and the likelihood of homosexuality, but this association weakened with increasing parental age. No significant effects were observed for women. The results are discussed in relation to recent theories of the birth order/sexual orientation relationship.

Adolescent↗