title: Is fetal gender a risk factor for severe congenital cytomegalovirus infection?
abstract: Cytomegalovirus is the main cause of congenital viral infection and amniotic fluid viral load appears to be the single nonclinical prognostic factor. However, as in other infectious diseases, host genetics may influence the severity of the disease. To test this hypothesis, we looked retrospectively at the fetal gender in cases of severe congenital cytomegalovirus infection in our database. We also analyzed the international English literature covering this subject between 1985 and 2003. The proportion of females with brain abnormalities was statistically different from that of males (62/258: 24% vs 30/251: 12%, p = 0.004). The risk of abnormal brain development in infected fetuses was twice as high in females than in males (Chi(2) = 8.7; OR = 2, IC [1.26-3.21]). In our cases, amniotic fluid CMV DNA load was not significantly higher in males than in females (p = 0.06) and was also similar in severely and non-severely infected fetuses (p = 0.09).
authors.affiliation: Service de Gynécologie Obstétrique, CHI Poissy-St-Germain, France.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Picone
authors.forename: Jean-Marc
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dejean
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ville
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000653:Amniotic Fluid / Q000821:virology; D001921:Brain / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000821:virology; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000151:congenital* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005315:Fetal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral