International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Maternal and newborn health research has shown male babies are at a higher risk of experiencing language delay if they are exposed to high levels of testosterone while in the womb.

A team led by Professor Andrew Whitehouse of the University of Western Australia studied 767 infants.

Testosterone levels in umbilical cord blood were tested at birth and then language skills were assessed at the ages of one, two and three.

It was found male infants exposed to a large amount of the hormone could be up to three times more likely to experience a delay in verbal communication abilities.

However, female babies had the opposite reaction to prenatal testosterone exposure, experiencing a lower-than-normal risk of language delay.

The study was published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Professor Whitehouse said: "These findings can help us to understand the biological mechanisms that may underpin language delay, as well as language development more generally."

It was recently discovered by an investigation published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and conducted by researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Oslo that women who take folic acid supplements in early pregnancy are less likely to have children who experience severe language delay at the age of three.

Posted by David Smith