Boys a bit more likely than girls to be born early

Published on Thursday, 14 November 2013 18:18 - Written by By Lauran Neergaard, AP Medical Writer


"This is a double whammy for boys," said Dr. Joy Lawn of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who led the team of researchers. "It's a pattern that happens all over the world."

The gender difference isn't large: About 55 percent of preterm births in 2010 were male, the report found. Nor is it clear exactly why it happens.






For example, China is saving more preemies' lives but at the cost of their vision, Lawn said.


"Disability is not something that's inevitable. It's preventable," she said, calling for improved quality of care including eye checks to prevent or reduce vision loss.


For the public, the gender difference may be the most surprising finding of Friday's report, although Dr. Edward McCabe of the March of Dimes says pediatric specialists have long noticed that baby boys start out a bit more vulnerable.

"People are curious about it. We'd like to understand why this occurs," McCabe said.


And if a boy preemie and a girl preemie are born at the same gestational age, the boy will be at higher risk of death or disability, she said. But Friday's report concluded there is too little information to quantify how big that risk is.

"Girls walk sooner than boys. They talk sooner than boys. They develop more quickly. That's also true in utero," Lawn said. For a preterm baby, "the difference of a few days maturity between a boy and a girl can mean the difference between major lung complications or not."





