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A method yielding comparable estimates of the fraternal birth order and female fecundity effects in male homosexuality.

ABSTRACT: The fraternal birth order effect (FBOE) is the finding that older brothers increase the probability of homosexuality in later-born males, and the female fecundity effect (FFE) is the finding that the mothers of homosexual males produce more offspring than the mothers of heterosexual males. In a recent paper, Khovanova proposed a novel method for computing independent estimates of these effects on the same samples and expressing the magnitude and direction of the effects in the same metric. In her procedure, only families with one or two sons are examined, and daughters are ignored. The present study investigated the performance of Khovanova's method using archived data from 10 studies, comprising 14 samples totalling 5390 homosexual and heterosexual subjects. The effect estimate for the FBOE showed that an increase from zero older brothers to one older brother is associated with a 38% increase in the odds of homosexuality. By contrast, the effect estimate for the FFE showed that the increase from zero younger brothers to one younger brother is not associated with any increase in the odds of homosexuality. The former result supports the maternal immune hypothesis of male homosexuality; the latter result does not support the balancing selection hypothesis.

SUBMITTER: Blanchard R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7126035 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A method yielding comparable estimates of the fraternal birth order and female fecundity effects in male homosexuality.

Blanchard Ray R Krupp Jurian J VanderLaan Doug P DP Vasey Paul L PL Zucker Kenneth J KJ

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20200318 1923

The fraternal birth order effect (FBOE) is the finding that older brothers increase the probability of homosexuality in later-born males, and the female fecundity effect (FFE) is the finding that the mothers of homosexual males produce more offspring than the mothers of heterosexual males. In a recent paper, Khovanova proposed a novel method for computing independent estimates of these effects on the same samples and expressing the magnitude and direction of the effects in the same metric. In he ...[more]

PMID: 32183625

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Project description:BACKGROUND:We examined the association between the administration of antineoplastic drugs (AD) and fecundity among female nurses. METHODS:AD administration and use of exposure controls (EC) such as gloves, gowns, and needleless systems were self-reported at baseline among 2649 participants of the Nurses' Health Study 3, who were actively attempting pregnancy. Every 6 months thereafter, the nurses reported the current duration of their pregnancy attempt. Multivariable accelerated failure time models were used to estimate time ratios (TR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) adjusted for age, race, body mass index, smoking, marital status, hours of work, and other occupational risk factors. RESULTS:Mean (standard deviation) age and BMI at baseline were 30.7 years (4.7) and 26.0?kg/m2 (6.4). Forty-one percent of nurses reported ever administering AD; 30% only in the past and 11% currently. The former administration of AD (TR?=?1.02, 95% CI, 0.93-1.12) was unrelated to the ongoing duration of pregnancy attempt. Among nurses currently administering AD, those who had administered AD for 6 years and above had a 27% (95% CI, 6%-53%) longer duration of pregnancy attempt than nurses who never handled ADs in unadjusted analyses. This difference disappeared in multivariable analyses (TR?=?1.01, 95% CI, 0.85-1.21). 93% (n?=?270) of the nurses currently administering ADs reported consistent use of EC. These nurses had a similar median duration of pregnancy attempt to those who never handled AD (TR?=?1.00, 95% CI, 0.87-1.15). CONCLUSIONS:Administration of ADs did not appear to have an impact on fecundity in a cohort of nurses planning for pregnancy with a high prevalence of consistent ECs. Our results may not be generalizable to women who are less compliant with PPE use or with less availability to ECs. Therefore, it is possible that we did not observe an association between occupational exposure to AD and reduced fecundity because of lower exposure due to the more prevalent use of effective ECs.

Dataset Information

A method yielding comparable estimates of the fraternal birth order and female fecundity effects in male homosexuality.

Publications

A method yielding comparable estimates of the fraternal birth order and female fecundity effects in male homosexuality.

Similar Datasets

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