London - Pregnant women are much more likely to suffer life-threatening complications when they are carrying a boy rather than a girl, say researchers.
Boys were up to 27 percent more likely to be born prematurely. Those that survive face a host of health problems, with one in ten developing a disability such as lung disease, cerebral palsy, blindness or deafness.
Women expecting boys were 7.5 percent more likely to develop pre-eclampsia, a blood-pressure related disorder that can be fatal, at the end of their pregnancy, the Australian study found. But women carrying girls were 22 percent more likely to develop pre-eclampsia earlier in their pregnancy.
The team from the University of Adelaide, whose findings are reported in the journal PLOS ONE, reached their conclusions after analysing data on almost 600 000 births.
Daily Mail