Pregnancy Folklore Revisited: The Case of Heartburn and Hair

doi:10.1111/j.1523-536X.2006.00128.x

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Wiley InterScience

Birth

Volume 33 Issue 4, Pages 311 - 314

Published Online: 27 Nov 2006

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Pregnancy Folklore Revisited: The Case of Heartburn and Hair

Kathleen A. Costigan, RN, MPH ¹ , Heather L. Sipsma, BA ² , Janet A. DiPietro, PhD ³

¹ Kathleen A. Costigan is a Nurse Clinician III in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland ; and ² Heather L. Sipsma is a Research Associate , and ³ Janet A. DiPietro is a Professor in the Department of Population and Family Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Correspondence to Kathleen A. Costigan, RN, MPH, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Nelson 2-160, 600 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21287, USA.

KEYWORDS

pregnancy folklore • heartburn • fetal hair

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT: Background: Folklore can originate by detection of actual associations between seemingly unrelated events and perpetuated through oral tradition. The objective of this study was to determine whether a common pregnancy belief that women who experience a lot of heartburn give birth to newborns with a lot of hair is accurate. Methods: Sixty-four pregnant women ranked the severity of their degree of heartburn during pregnancy. Independent coders rated newborn hair volume using 2 photographs of the infant's head, taken shortly after birth. Results: Most (78%) women reported some degree of heartburn. Symptom severity was unrelated to fetal sex and maternal characteristics including parity, age, or weight. The simple linear relationship between heartburn severity and hair volume was significant r_s(62) = 0.40, p < 0.001. Categorical analysis by severity score and hair ranking revealed a similar association (χ²= 23.93, p < 0.05). Most (23/28) women who reported moderate or severe heartburn gave birth to babies with average or above average amounts of hair, and conversely, most (10/12) women reporting no heartburn had babies with less than average or no hair. Conclusions: Contrary to expectations, it appears that an association between heartburn severity during pregnancy and newborn hair does exist. We propose a shared biologic mechanism involving a dual role of pregnancy hormones in both the relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter and the modulation of fetal hair growth. (BIRTH 33:4 December 2006)