Differential rates of cerebral maturation between sexes

Abstract

TAYLOR and Ounsted^1,2 have proposed a model to account for the age of onset of developmental disorders and their relative incidence between the two sexes. They propose that there is a period in the maturational continuum during which the child is particularly vulnerable to a particular disorder. Males develop more slowly than females and they should therefore reach this “dangerous state” later, and take longer to pass through it. It is therefore predicted for any developmental disorder, that males should show a later age of onset and a higher incidence than females²; but that females are more likely to suffer seriously than males¹, (although this does not follow directly from the model). Evidence relevant to these predictions is reported here for congenital hydrocephalus.