Sex Differences in Autistic Youth Born Extremely Preterm.
Tyler C McFayden, Clare Harrop, Kyle Roell and 3 others
PMID 38489107WHAT IT FOUND
In autistic children born extremely preterm, boys showed more restricted and repetitive behaviors and greater social affect difficulties than girls.
However, parent-reported screeners and cognitive scores did not differ by sex. Screening tools alone may miss sex-specific traits in this group.
Key findings
01Boys with autism born extremely preterm scored higher on clinician-observed social affect and parent-reported restricted and repetitive behaviors than girls.
02There were no significant sex differences in cognitive ability at age 2 or 10, or in parent-reported autism traits on the SCQ and SRS at age 10.
03The M-CHAT screener at age 2 failed to detect nearly half of the children who were later diagnosed with autism, with similar failure rates for boys and girls.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size of 61 autistic children is small, limiting the power to detect subtle differences. The study excluded children who were non-ambulatory, blind, or had severe motor impairment, so findings do not apply to those with significant physical or sensory disabilities. The M-CHAT screener at age 2 was not sensitive enough to detect nearly half of the eventual diagnoses, highlighting a gap in early screening for this population. Cognitive measures did not differ by sex, but boys were significantly more likely to have an IEP, indicating a discrepancy between measured ability and educational service use.
Declared interests
The authors declare no relevant financial or non-financial interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that parent-reported measures of social communication (SRS, SCQ) are sensitive to sex differences in this population. While clinician-observed traits (ADOS-2) showed boys had greater social affect difficulties, parent reports showed no significant difference, suggesting parents may not perceive or report these specific behavioral differences equally.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →