title: Sex ratios at birth and environmental temperatures.
abstract: The relationship between average monthly air temperature and sex ratios at birth (SRB) was analyzed for children born in Germany during the period 1946-1995. Both the absolute temperature and--more markedly--the monthly temperature deviations from the overall mean were significantly positively correlated with the SRB (P < 0.01) when temperatures were time-lagged against the SRB data by -10 or -11 months. It is concluded that the sex of the offspring is partially determined by environmental temperatures prior to conception.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Reproductive Medicine, University of Münster, Germany. Lerchl@uni-muenster.de
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lerchl
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization / Q000502:physiology*; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012621:Seasons; D012744:Sex Ratio; D013696:Temperature