Table 4 Summary of the fetal imaging data and cohort demographics (covering a range from a minimum of 18.0 to a maximum of 36.8 gestational weeks) used in this study.

From: Motion corrected MRI differentiates male and female human brain growth trajectories from mid-gestation

Measure

All data

Male scans

Female scans

T statistic

P value

Effect size

Num. of scans

268

139

129

–

–

Num. of fetuses

162

81

81

–

–

Num. of fetuses with one scan

88

41

47

–

–

Num. of fetuses with two scans

42

22

20

–

–

Num. of fetuses with three scans

32

18

14

–

–

Gestational age at scan (weeks)

27.63 (±5.12)

27.53 (±5.12)

27.74 (±5.14)

0.7456

0.040

Maternal age (years)

33.24 (±4.21)

33.25 (±3.69)

33.22 (±4.75)

0.9572

0.007

Paternal age (years)

35.50 (±5.96)

35.64 (±5.48)

35.34 (±6.45)

0.7019

0.049

Maternal height (m)

5.44 (±0.26)

5.46 (±0.26)

5.42 (±0.27)

0.1712

0.169

Maternal weight before (kg)

65.99 (±13.34)

66.67 (±14.50)

65.27 (±12.00)

0.4056

0.104

Household income (USD)

175 K (±124 K)

152 K (±92K)

200 K (±148 K)

0.0052

0.393

Num. in household

2.58 (±0.92)

2.42 (±0.74)

2.76 (±1.07)

0.0044

0.365

Num. of previous pregnancies

1.19 (±1.52)

1.07 (±1.34)

1.30 (±1.70)

0.2250

0.151

Num. of previous miscarriages

0.50 (±0.82)

0.46 (±0.84)

0.55 (±0.80)

0.3778

0.111

Num. of previous abortions

0.13 (±0.49)

0.13 (±0.57)

0.13 (±0.40)

0.9512

0.008

Previous ectopic pregnancies

0.02 (±0.15)

0.00 (±0.00)

0.03 (±0.22)

0.1027

0.211

Num. of previous still births

0.02 (±0.16)

0.02 (±0.15)

0.02 (±0.18)

0.7498

0.040

  1. The overall and separate average (and standard deviation) for male and female cohorts are included for the contributing scans in each group. These are based on the subset of cases where the parents chose to provide answers. The only measures that exhibited statistically a two-sided difference (P < 0.05, uncorrected significance in bold) in means between the male and female scans that could potentially alternatively explain male vs. female differences in brain anatomy were the household income and number in household. Both of these were statistically greater for the female fetuses, but with only a small to medium effect size (Cohen’s D). We therefore explored the incorporation of these measures as covariates in the statistical analysis, and found that this did not significantly impact the findings. However, as not all participants provided responses to these questions, this would reduce the number of imaging measures; therefore, in the full cohort analysis we do not include these covariates.