We examined twinning and fetal gender in births of women with a hospital di
agnosis of pre-eclampsia or hyperemesis. We also investigated sex ratio in
infants whose mothers had had hyperemesis or pre-eclampsia in a different p
regnancy. From all the hospitalized cases in Denmark between 1980 and 1996
we extracted 6,227 births with hyperemesis and 24,764 with preeclampsia. Tw
ins were more frequent in pregnancies with either condition. The male to fe
male sex ratio was 1.04 (95% CI = 1.02-1.05) in the reference population, 0
.87 (95% CI = 0.82-0.91) in births with hyperemesis, and 1.10 (95% CI = 1.0
7-1.12) in births with pre-eclampsia. Women with pre-eclampsia had slightly
more males also in non-affected pregnancies.