The need to address sex as a biological variable in neonatal clinical studies

Male sex has been identified as a risk factor associated with mortality in preterm neonates [1–4]. Even though male preterm neonates have shown faster declines in mortality, respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), they still have a significantly higher risk of mortality before hospital discharge, RDS, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), late-onset sepsis, severe intra-ventricular hemorrhage (IVH), severe retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), and BPD [5]. Similar results of increased mortality in premature male neonates have been reported from neonatal cohorts from Korea, Canada, Japan, Austria, and Switzerland [3,6–9].

source https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(22)01074-5/fulltext?rss=yes