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American Journal of Human Biology
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Volume 19, Issue 6
November/December 2007
Pages 763–773
Original Research Article
The sex ratio and age-specific male mortality: Evidence for culling in utero
Authors

    Tim Bruckner ,
    Corresponding author
        E-mail address: brucknet@berkeley.edu
        School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-7360
        School of Public Health, University of California, 322 Warren Hall, Box 7360, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360
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    Ralph Catalano
        School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-7360
    Search for more papers by this author

    First published: 3 August 2007 Full publication history
    DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.20636 View/save citation
    Cited by: 23 articles
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Abstract

While adverse conditions early in life reportedly predispose individuals to increased mortality in adulthood, controversy remains as to whether exogenous insults in utero, especially among male fetuses, induce similar cohort “damage” in populations. A rival theory postulates that exogenous stressors in gestation may “cull” frail male members of the cohort before birth, leaving a smaller but hardier cohort with improved survival. Recent tests, which use the sex ratio (i.e., the odds of a male live birth) as a gauge of insults inflicted upon cohorts in gestation, support the culled cohort argument. These tests, however, examined only aggregate male lifespan, thereby obscuring potential heterogeneity of both damaged and culled cohorts at specific ages over the life course. Using time-series methods, we explore associations between the sex ratio and cohort male mortality in infancy (before age 1), childhood (1–4 years), youth (5–19 years), adulthood (20–54 years), and old-age (55–79 years). We examine males born in Sweden (1751–1913), Denmark (1835–1913), and England and Wales (1841–1912). Our findings generally support culled cohorts in that male mortality across all ages fell below its expected value among cohorts in which the sex ratio dropped below its expected level. These findings suggest that exogenous shocks to gestation, as measured by a lower than expected sex ratio, may cull males in utero , leaving behind a less frail cohort over the entire life course. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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DOI
10.1002/ajhb.20636

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Publication History

    Issue online: 8 October 2007
    Version of record online: 3 August 2007
    Manuscript Accepted: 22 December 2006
    Manuscript Revised: 21 December 2006
    Manuscript Received: 14 November 2006

Funded by

    The Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program

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