Range EEG asymmetry in QUIET sleep. The figure shows the association between rEEG asymmetry in the theta band (asymm) and early skin-breaking procedures (SBPs) Data are reported for the entire data set during QUIET sleep (QS). The left panel shows how the asymmetry maturational trend differs in case of high SBPs (magenta curve, SBPs ≥50) compared to low SBPs (green curve, SBP < 50). SBPs seem to increase the level of asymm throughout the development HF oscillations. The right panel shows the boxplot trend as output of the two-way ANOVA: the division between HIGH SBPs and LOW SBPs is reported for each recording time. The asymmetry decreases over time (main effect of measuring point: F(2,208) = 101.71, P ≤ 0.01), but statistically significant interaction effect between measuring point and SBP group is found (F(2,208) = 8.52, P ≤ 0.01). The simple main-effect analysis shows a higher asymmetry in the HIGH SBPs group at the 5-day recording (P ≤ 0.01, indicated as ** in the figure) and a marginal significant difference for the 34 weeks (P = 0.05, indicated as * in the figure). The rEEG asymmetry does not statistically differ between HIGH and LOW SBPs groups at PSG recording time (P = 0.72). ANOVA, analysis of variance.