IANS
 
London, Feb 15: Giving birth to a boy may bring severe postnatal depression and lower quality of life for some mothers, a study by French researchers has suggested.

A team of researchers led by Claude de Tychey at the University of Nancy, who examined 191 mothers, found that seven out of 10 women who had given birth to a boy reported a lower quality of life compared with women who had given birth to a girl, regardless of whether they had postnatal depression.

Although mothers of girl babies were more likely to have mild postnatal depression, among the 17 women diagnosed with severe postnatal depression, 13 had had male babies, the online edition of BBC News reported.

The study published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing did not have any evidence of a reason behind this difference, and researchers called for further research to discover it.

However, they suggested there might be subtle psychological differences in the attitudes of new mothers towards boy and girl babies that might affect their emotional state - particularly if they were already prone to depression.

"The overwhelming finding of the study was the fact that gender appears to play a significant role in reduced quality of life as well as an increased chance of severe postnatal depression," de Tychey said.