Short duration of sexual relationship is more common in women who develop preeclampsia and women with abnormal uterine artery Doppler waveforms who deliver an SGA (small for gestational age) baby, revealed by researchers.
The study is conducted by researchers from New Zealand on whether prolonged exposure to the father’s semen protects new mothers against pre-eclampsia and having an undersized baby.
Dr Kho and colleagues at the University of Auckland published the study in the Journal of Reproductive Immunology.
The aim of this study was to determine if women with preeclampsia or delivering small for gestational age (SGA) babies are more likely to have a short duration of sexual relationship compared with those who have uncomplicated pregnancies.
When the pregnancies came to term, pre-eclampsia (pregnancy-induced hypertension) was found to be less common in women who had long-term sexual relations exclusively with the biological father, than in those who had been with their partner only for a short time (i.e. less than six months).
The study also revealed that women who had undersized babies (SGA, or ‘small for gestational age’) were also more likely to have been in shorter relationships, but only when 20 week ultrasounds demonstrated reduced blood flow to the fetus.
Source: University of Auckland, New Zealand