Effect of sex of fetus on asthma during pregnancy: blind prospective study

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Abstract
All women aged 25-34 who were receiving regular drug treatment for asthma and were in the second trimester of pregnancy (12-21 weeks' gestation) were approached directly to participate in the study. Twenty eight women were recruited from three hospital and four general practice antenatal clinics and six from an asthma clinic. Twelve had not taken inhaled steroids (beclomethasone or budesonide)regularly before pregnancy, 16 took 200-500 µg daily, and six more than 500 µg daily. None was taking oral steroids. None knew the sex of their baby before delivery. The study took the form of a questionnaire on symptoms of asthma, cough, shortness of breath, nocturnal waking due to asthma, drug treatment (frequency and amount), and visits to a doctor for asthma before and since the beginning of pregnancy, a minimum period of 12 weeks. Subjects were also asked to keep daily diary cards and peak expiratory flow readings throughout pregnancy. All 34 subjects completed the questionnaire; only 15 agreed to keep daily records and only 6 successfully completed these. We have therefore based our analysis on the questionnaire alone. Subjects were contacted again after parturition to ascertain the sex of the baby.