Gender affects early psychomotor milestones and long-term neurodevelopment of preterm infants

Temporal differences of neurodevelopmental milestones' achievement are commonly taken into account in preterm infant assessment during the first year of life, especially when minor or none neurological signs arise from clinical examination. The influence of gender on neurodevelopment in preterm infants was examined by a milestones‐based neu- rological approach. Two‐hundred twenty‐seven moderate and late preterm and full‐term infants (51.9% male), without evidence of severe white matter insults, were early assessed by classic neurological examination. Griffiths Mental Devel- opmental Scale was used at long‐term observation. Children were sorted into three gestational age groups (Group 1: 32– 33 weeks, Group 2: 34–36 weeks, and Group 3: ≥37 weeks) and compared according to their neurodevelopmental path- ways and gender. The achievement of head control was slightly earlier in females. The pointing, one of the main communicative hand gesture, appeared significantly earlier in females across all the groups. At the Griffiths Scale, the majority of gender‐related differences emerged in personal–social and eye and hand coordination subscale. An independent role of male gender was evidenced in per- sonal–social, language, and eye and hand coordination sub- scales. Gender and gestational age likely addressed different temporal profiles of neurodevelopment in early and late assessments in preterm and full‐term infants. The role of gender and gestational age on these findings has been discussed.