Data from: Umbilical cord androgens and estrogens in relation to verbal and nonverbal abilities at age 10 in the general population

Sex differences in verbal and nonverbal abilities are a contentious area of research. Prenatal steroids have been shown to have masculinizing effects on the brain that may affect the development of nonverbal and verbal abilities in later life. The current study examined a wide range of biologically active sex steroids (both androgens and estrogens) in umbilical cord blood at birth in a large pregnancy cohort in relation to performance on nonverbal (Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices) and verbal (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-3 and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III) measures at age 10 years. Overall, Androgen and Estrogen composites in cord blood were not found to be predictive of performance on verbal and nonverbal measures at age 10. These data suggest that late gestation sex steroids do not exert a major effect on nonverbal and verbal abilities in middle childhood.

言语与非言语能力的性别差异是颇具争议的研究领域。已有研究表明，产前类固醇激素可对大脑产生雄性化效应，进而影响个体晚年的言语与非言语能力发育。本研究针对某大型妊娠队列中新生儿出生时的脐带血样本，检测了涵盖雄激素（androgens）与雌激素（estrogens）在内的多种具有生物活性的性类固醇激素，并分析其与受试者10岁时的非言语能力（瑞文彩色渐进矩阵测验（Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices））及言语能力（语言基础临床评估第三版（Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-3）、皮博迪图片词汇测验第三版（Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III））表现的关联。总体而言，脐带血中的雄激素与雌激素复合指标无法预测受试者10岁时的言语及非言语能力表现。本研究数据表明，妊娠晚期的性类固醇激素并不会对童年中期个体的言语与非言语能力产生显著影响。