Human Reproduction, Vol. 16, No. 6, 1081-1085,
June 2001
© 2001 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
The data sources which may help strengthen the epidemiological evidence for the hormonal hypothesis of sex determination in man
The Galton Laboratory, University College London, Wolfson House, 4 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2HE, UK
The hypothesis that parental hormone levels around the time of conception partially control offspring sex ratios—though here taken to be true in substance—will need a great deal of work to specify with any accuracy. We do not know with any certainty which hormones are involved, nor how they are implicated. Answers to these two questions are only likely to emerge after prolonged experimental work. And it is fair to say that that work has not yet started. I assume that experimental workers will not embark on such a project until it is perfectly clear that there is a watertight case that mammalian parental hormone levels somehow influence offspring sex ratios. The present note indicates where further (human) evidence for that case will be found. In regard to human beings, much of the required information is held by clinics and registries not primarily concerned with reproductive biology. This point is illustrated here in regard to toxicology, teratology, radiation medicine, neurology, psychiatry, oncology, dermatology, rheumatology, occupational medicine and sports medicine as well as obstetrics and gynaecology. Tests (based on the hypothesis) are offered for intrauterine endocrine causes of malformations, and for pre- and post-natal endocrine causes of disease.
Key words: epidemiological evidence/hormone levels/offspring sex ratio
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