ArticleReproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E2011
Second to fourth digit ratio (2D:4D) and concentrations of circulating sex hormones in adulthood.
Article in Reproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed.
- Testosterone administration in females modulates moral judgment and patterns of brain activation and functional connectivity.Human brain mapping · 2016Trial
- Digit ratio (2D:4D), aggression, and testosterone in men exposed to an aggressive video stimulus.Evolutionary psychology : an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behavior · 2013Trial
- Twin testosterone transfer hypothesis and the second-to-fourth digit ratio in females of same-sex and opposite-sex twin pairs: An exploratory study.Physiological reports · 2025Article
- Are sex differences in blood cell count and hemoglobin moderated by the 2D:4D ratio? A cross-sectional study in a Ghanaian population.Health science reports · 2023Article
- Digit ratio (2D:4D), laryngeal cancer and vocal fold leukoplakia.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2023Article
- Theophylline-Induced Relaxation Is Enhanced after Testosterone Treatment via Increased KInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Sex-moderated relationship between the 2D:4D ratio and circulating hormones in an adult Ghanaian population.Physiological reports · 2023Article
- Does sex interact with the 2D:4D ratio or adult circulating hormones on the estimated glomerular filtration rate? A cross-sectional study in Ghana.Physiological reports · 2022Article
- Sexual Dimorphism and Sex-2D : 4D Interactions on Fasting Lipid Variables in an Adult Ghanaian Population.Journal of lipids · 2022Article
- No credible evidence for links between 2D:4D and COVID-19 outcomes: A probabilistic perspective on digit ratio, ACE variants, and national case fatalities.Early human development · 2021Article
- Digit ratio (2D:4D) in women and men with lung cancer.Scientific reports · 2020Observational
- No relationship between the digit ratios (2D:4D) and salivary testosterone change: Study on men under an acute exercise.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Digit Ratio (2D:4D) and Physical Performance in Female Olympic Athletes.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2020Article
- Beyond Human Perception: Sexual Dimorphism in Hand and Wrist Radiographs Is Discernible by a Deep Learning Model.Journal of digital imaging · 2019Article
- Depressed female cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) display a higher second-to-fourth (2D:4D) digit ratio.Zoological research · 2019Article
- Can the Second to Fourth Digit Ratio (2D : 4D) Be a Marker to Determine Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity?Disease markers · 2019Article
- 2D:4D finger length ratio and radiographic hand osteoarthritis.Rheumatology international · 2018Article
- Men Who Compliment a Woman's Appearance Using Metaphorical Language: Associations with Creativity, Masculinity, Intelligence and Attractiveness.Frontiers in psychology · 2017Article
- A Context Dependent Interpretation of Inconsistencies in 2D:4D Findings: The Moderating Role of Status Relevance.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2017Article
- Why is digit ratio correlated to sports performance?Journal of exercise rehabilitation · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe second to fourth digit ratio (2D:4D) is used as a marker of prenatal sex hormone exposure. The objective of this study was to examine whether circulating concentrations of sex hormones and SHBG measured in adulthood was associated with 2D:4D.
methodsThis analysis was based on a random sample from the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study. The sample consisted of of 1036 men and 620 post-menopausal women aged between 39 and 70 at the time of blood draw. Concentrations of circulating sex hormones were measured from plasma collected at baseline (1990-1994), while digit length was measured from hand photocopies taken during a recent follow-up (2003-2009). The outcome measures were circulating concentrations of testosterone, oestradiol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate, androstenedione, Sex Hormone Binding Globulin, androstenediol glucoronide for men only and oestrone sulphate for women only. Free testosterone and oestradiol were estimated using standard formulae derived empirically. Predicted geometric mean hormone concentrations (for tertiles of 2D:4D) and conditional correlation coefficients (for continuous 2D:4D) were obtained using mixed effects linear regression models.
resultsNo strong associations were observed between 2D:4D measures and circulating concentrations of hormones for men or women. For males, right 2D:4D was weakly inversely associated with circulating testosterone (predicted geometric mean testosterone was 15.9 and 15.0 nmol/L for the lowest and highest tertiles of male right 2D:4D respectively (P-trend = 0.04). There was a similar weak association between male right 2D:4D and the ratio of testosterone to oestradiol. These associations were not evident in analyses of continuous 2D:4D.
conclusionsThere were no strong associations between any adult circulating concentration of sex hormone or SHGB and 2D:4D. These results contribute to the growing body of evidence indicating that 2D:4D is unrelated to adult sex hormone concentrations.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.