The evolutionary biology of spontaneous abortion in humans

Forbes, L. Scott

doi:10.1016/s0169-5347(97)01179-8

Cited by 84 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…The clinical observation that advancing maternal age corresponds to a lower risk of chromosomally normal foetal loss but a greater risk of chromosomally abnormal live births has stimulated several hypotheses regarding the nature of a maternal screening mechanism during pregnancy [4,9,16,19,20,40]. The search for such a mechanism, and its potential restoration especially among older gravid mothers, could hold considerable public health implications.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This relaxed filter condition would result in a relatively lower mean level of the biomarker among live births but a higher incidence of abnormal gestations carried to term. Adapted from Forbes [4].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One explanation for this observation invokes the relaxed filtered stringency (RFS) hypothesis [4,19,20]. RFS asserts that mothers, faced with the end stage of their reproductive lifespan, may relax the screen against gestations that, if born, exhibit a low likelihood of surviving to reproductive age.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The RFS hypothesis, however, offers testable predictions of how a biomarker for the maternal screen would vary according to maternal reproductive history (see figure 1, modified from Forbes [4]). Populationbased prenatal screening programmes may provide an opportunity to test potential biomarkers of the maternal screen.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A test of maternal human chorionic gonadotropin during pregnancy as an adaptive filter of human gestations

et al. 2012

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The risk of abnormalities and morbidity among live births increases with advanced maternal age. Explanations for this elevated morbidity invoke several maternal mechanisms. The relaxed filter stringency (RFS) hypothesis asserts that mothers, nearing the end of their reproductive lifespan, reduce the stringency of a screen of offspring quality in utero based on life-history traits of parity and interbirth interval (IBI). A separate line of research implicates human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) during pregnancy as a signal of offspring quality. We test the RFS hypothesis directly by examining whether the difference in gestational hCG across consecutive live births varies positively with the mother's number of previous live births but inversely with her most recent IBI. We applied multivariable regression methods to a unique dataset of gestational hCG for over 500 000 live births from 2002 to 2007. The difference in gestational hCG across mothers' consecutive live births varies positively with both mothers' parity and IBI. These associations remain similar among older mothers (35þ years). Findings support the RFS hypothesis for the parity expectation but not for the IBI expectation. Further evidence for the RFS hypothesis among contemporary human gestations would have to invoke screening mechanisms other than hCG.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A test of maternal human chorionic gonadotropin during pregnancy as an adaptive filter of human gestations

et al. 2012

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“…selective abortion in humans and plants: Forbes 1997, Burd 1998brood reduction: Forbes & Mock 1998), but is rarely considered in relation to filial cannibalism. Previous studies have highlighted the potential importance of selective filial cannibalism (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hurry-up and hatch: selective filial cannibalism of slower developing eggs

Klug

Lindström

2008

Biol. Lett.

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Filial cannibalism (the consumption of one's own offspring) is thought to represent an adaptive strategy in many animals. However, little is known about the details of which offspring are consumed when a parent cannibalizes. Here, we examined patterns of within-brood filial cannibalism in the sand goby ( Pomatoschistus minutus ). Males spawned sequentially with two females, and we asked whether males cannibalized selectively with regard to egg size or the order in which eggs were received. Males preferentially consumed the larger eggs of the second female they spawned with. Because larger eggs took longer to hatch, and because female 2's eggs were up to 1 day behind those of female 1, such preferential cannibalism might allow males to decrease the time spent caring for the current brood and re-enter the mating pool sooner. More work is needed to understand the fitness consequences of such selective cannibalism.

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Selection in utero: A biological response to mass layoffs

Catalano

Zilko

Saxton

et al. 2010

American J Hum Biol

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Most research describing the biological response to unemployment appears appropriately motivated by clinical or public health concerns and focuses on death, disease, and medical care. We argue that expanding the work to include other outcomes could contribute to basic science. As an example, we use the response to mass layoffs to discriminate between two explanations of low ratios of male to female live births in stressed populations. One explanation asserts that ambient stressors reduce the ratio of males to females conceived. The other argues that the maternal stress response selects against males in utero. We show that selection in utero better explains the observed data. We conclude that human adaptation to the economic environment deserves scrutiny from a wider array of scientists than it now receives.

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The evolutionary biology of spontaneous abortion in humans

Cited by 84 publications

References 25 publications

A test of maternal human chorionic gonadotropin during pregnancy as an adaptive filter of human gestations

A test of maternal human chorionic gonadotropin during pregnancy as an adaptive filter of human gestations

Hurry-up and hatch: selective filial cannibalism of slower developing eggs

Selection in utero: A biological response to mass layoffs

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