26.08.2024New publication: the effect of maternal influenza or syphilis on birth weight and head circumference

We recently published a paper with collaborators from the University College London, Jonathan C. K. Wells and Mario Cortina-Borja.

We challenged a life history theory: the brain sparing hypothesis. It assumes that in the context of an adverse in utero environment, the brain might be spared at the expense of other organs.

Using over eight thousand historical birth records from the maternity of Lausanne, we use maternal exposure to influenza (during the 1918 pandemic) or to syphilis (between 1911 and 1922) to assess whether head circumference is preserved at the expense of birth weight. We found no support for the brain sparing hypothesis: both head circumference and birth weight were lowered in the case of maternal influenza, and furthermore in the case of syphilis. The mechanisms explaining lower neonatal size might differ between the two diseases: intra-uterine growth restriction for influenza and shorter gestation for syphilis.

The full article published in the American Journal of Human Biology is available here.