Postorino Valentina, Fatta Laura Maria, De Peppo Lavinia, Giovagnoli Giulia, Armando Marco, Vicari Stefano, Mazzone Luigi
Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience, I.R.C.C.S. Children's Hospital Bambino Gesù, Piazza S. Onofrio, 4, 00165, Rome, Italy.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2015 Jul;45(7):2046-55. doi: 10.1007/s10803-015-2366-0.
Epidemiological studies have highlighted a strong male bias in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), however few studies have examined gender differences in autism symptoms, and available findings are inconsistent. The aim of the present study is to investigate the longitudinal gender differences in developmental profiles of 30 female and 30 male age-matched preschool children with ASD. All the children underwent a comprehensive evaluation at T0 and at T1. Our results have shown no significant interaction between time and gender for predicting autism symptoms, developmental quotient, parental stress, children's adaptive skills and behavior problems. Shedding light on the developmental trajectories in ASD could help clinicians to recognize children with ASD at an earlier age and contribute to the development of appropriate treatments.
流行病学研究突出了自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）中明显的男性偏向，但很少有研究考察自闭症症状的性别差异，现有研究结果也不一致。本研究的目的是调查30名年龄匹配的患有ASD的学龄前女童和30名男童发育概况的纵向性别差异。所有儿童在T0和T1时都接受了全面评估。我们的结果表明，在预测自闭症症状、发育商、父母压力、儿童适应技能和行为问题方面，时间和性别之间没有显著的交互作用。阐明ASD的发育轨迹有助于临床医生在更早的年龄识别患有ASD的儿童，并有助于开发适当的治疗方法。
