Baby's gender, maternal age and parity: Any relationship? A study in a tertiary institution in southern Nigeria

Background: Human sex ratio which is the ratio of males to females in a population has been linked to a lot of factors including maternal and paternal age and job type, parity, and environmental factors. We investigated the sex ratio and relationship between maternal age and parity and the sex ratio at Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH), Port Harcourt. Methods: This is a retrospective study of pregnant women who delivered by caesarean section at the RSUTH from 1st January, 2018 to 31st December, 2018. Their information was retrieved from the labour ward and theatre records and reviewed. Data was extracted, coded and analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) IBM version 25.0 (Armonk, NY). Results: Two thousand, two hundred and ninety-four (2294) women delivered in 2018. Of this, one thousand one hundred and eighty-two (1182) women had caesarean section (CS) giving a CS rate of 52%. Male born were 1258 (54.8%) and female born were 1036 (45.2%) giving a sex ratio of 1.2. The CS babies were 1240; 698 (56.3%) males and 542 (43.7%) females giving a CS sex ratio of 1.29. The mean age of the women who had CS was 32 years + 4.79, age range was 15-45 years and modal age group and parity were 30-34 years and 2-4 respectively. P value for maternal parity and sex ratio was not significant but significant for sex ratio and maternal age for higher other deliveries Conclusion: The overall sex ratio was 1.2. There was a significant relationship between sex ratio and maternal age for higher other deliveries