Effects of sport disciplines on offspring sex ratio in elite athletes: an observational study
Abstract The sex ratio (SR; the ratio of male to female births) is a demographic indicator close to 1.04 in the worldwide population that can variate depending in several environmental conditions. The practice of elite sport exposes athletes to several factors known to impact SR, in particular high...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-05445-8 |
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| author | François B. Favier François D. Desgorces Grégoire Bosselut Thierry Launay Grégoire P. Millet Florian Alexis Britto |
| author_facet | François B. Favier François D. Desgorces Grégoire Bosselut Thierry Launay Grégoire P. Millet Florian Alexis Britto |
| author_sort | François B. Favier |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The sex ratio (SR; the ratio of male to female births) is a demographic indicator close to 1.04 in the worldwide population that can variate depending in several environmental conditions. The practice of elite sport exposes athletes to several factors known to impact SR, in particular high physiological (training loads) and psychological (management of personal and professional life) levels of stress. However, knowledge about the effect of elite sport practice on SR is limited. We used binomial logistic regression to analyze the SR of the offspring (n = 2995 births) of 2132 athletes (18.7% of females) from various sports including 1597 athletes selected in their national team. We showed that endurance elite athletes are more likely to have daughters compared to athletes from mixed or power-oriented disciplines. Furthermore, classification tree analysis revealed that the probability of siring daughters was strongly enhanced in female athletes who gave birth during their professional sport career (SR = 0.581). Our results highlight the practice of elite sport as a condition associated with specific adaptation of the reproductive system. This raises questions about the mechanisms responsible for SR alteration (ranging from physiological to socio-economic aspects), opening new avenues in sports sciences and in reproductive biology. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-09967f25ea344fa498efeb41706bde7b |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-09967f25ea344fa498efeb41706bde7b2025-08-20T03:03:32ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-07-011511810.1038/s41598-025-05445-8Effects of sport disciplines on offspring sex ratio in elite athletes: an observational studyFrançois B. Favier0François D. Desgorces1Grégoire Bosselut2Thierry Launay3Grégoire P. Millet4Florian Alexis Britto5EuroMov Digital Health in Motion, University of Montpellier, IMT Mines AlesUniversité de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, PSMSEuroMov Digital Health in Motion, University of Montpellier, IMT Mines AlesUniversité Paris CitéInstitute of Sport Sciences, University of LausanneUniversité Paris CitéAbstract The sex ratio (SR; the ratio of male to female births) is a demographic indicator close to 1.04 in the worldwide population that can variate depending in several environmental conditions. The practice of elite sport exposes athletes to several factors known to impact SR, in particular high physiological (training loads) and psychological (management of personal and professional life) levels of stress. However, knowledge about the effect of elite sport practice on SR is limited. We used binomial logistic regression to analyze the SR of the offspring (n = 2995 births) of 2132 athletes (18.7% of females) from various sports including 1597 athletes selected in their national team. We showed that endurance elite athletes are more likely to have daughters compared to athletes from mixed or power-oriented disciplines. Furthermore, classification tree analysis revealed that the probability of siring daughters was strongly enhanced in female athletes who gave birth during their professional sport career (SR = 0.581). Our results highlight the practice of elite sport as a condition associated with specific adaptation of the reproductive system. This raises questions about the mechanisms responsible for SR alteration (ranging from physiological to socio-economic aspects), opening new avenues in sports sciences and in reproductive biology.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-05445-8Elite sportGender inequalityHuman reproductionSex-ratio |
| spellingShingle | François B. Favier François D. Desgorces Grégoire Bosselut Thierry Launay Grégoire P. Millet Florian Alexis Britto Effects of sport disciplines on offspring sex ratio in elite athletes: an observational study Scientific Reports Elite sport Gender inequality Human reproduction Sex-ratio |
| title | Effects of sport disciplines on offspring sex ratio in elite athletes: an observational study |
| title_full | Effects of sport disciplines on offspring sex ratio in elite athletes: an observational study |
| title_fullStr | Effects of sport disciplines on offspring sex ratio in elite athletes: an observational study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of sport disciplines on offspring sex ratio in elite athletes: an observational study |
| title_short | Effects of sport disciplines on offspring sex ratio in elite athletes: an observational study |
| title_sort | effects of sport disciplines on offspring sex ratio in elite athletes an observational study |
| topic | Elite sport Gender inequality Human reproduction Sex-ratio |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-05445-8 |
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