Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24888361›Full record

ArticleMolecular psychiatry2015

Elevated fetal steroidogenic activity in autism.

S Baron-Cohen, B Auyeung, B Nørgaard-Pedersen, D M Hougaard, M W Abdallah, L Melgaard, A S Cohen, B Chakrabarti, L Ruta, M V Lombardo

Registry-linked trialOpen access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05811507 (Evaluation of Serum Adrenal Androgens Among Prepubertal and Pubertal Boys With Autism Spectrum Disorder), which is not on this map. Cited by 259 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
259citing papers in PubMed, 11 pooled it
22.4field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

NCT05811507 unknown statusnot on this mapstarted 2023, after this paper: background citation

Evaluation of Serum Adrenal Androgens Among Prepubertal and Pubertal Boys With Autism Spectrum Disorder

TypeobservationalSponsorSohag UniversityRan2023 to 2024Enrolled100ConditionsAutism Spectrum DisorderArmsserum total testosterone, serum androsterone, serum androstenedione and serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria for ASD, Assesment of IQ: The Stanford-Binet V (Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales):
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

259 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 476 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  5. Steroid hormone pathways, vitamin D and autism: a systematic review.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2023
    Pooled it
  6. Pooled it
  7. Pooled it
  8. Potential of Salivary Biomarkers in Autism Research: A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021
    Pooled it
  9. Pooled it
  10. Pooled it
  11. Pooled it
  12. Trial
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  14. Article
  15. Mast Cells in the Developing Brain.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
    Review
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199 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 6 institutions in 5 countries.

S Baron-CohenAutism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
B Auyeung1] Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK [2] Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
B Nørgaard-PedersenDepartment of Clinical Biochemistry and Immunology, Statens Serum Institute Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
D M HougaardDepartment of Clinical Biochemistry and Immunology, Statens Serum Institute Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
M W Abdallah1] Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Immunology, Statens Serum Institute Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark [2] Department of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, Rostock University Medical Centre, Rostock, Germany [3] Section for Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
L MelgaardDepartment of Clinical Biochemistry and Immunology, Statens Serum Institute Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
A S CohenDepartment of Clinical Biochemistry and Immunology, Statens Serum Institute Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
B Chakrabarti1] Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK [2] Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK.
L Ruta1] Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK [2] Division of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, Stella Maris Scientific Institute, Pisa, Italy.
M V Lombardo1] Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK [2] Department of Psychology, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus [3] Centre for Applied Neuroscience, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Statens Serum Institut · DKFondazione Stella Maris · ITUniversity of Cambridge · GBUniversity of Cyprus · CYUniversity of Edinburgh · GBUniversity of Reading · GB

Funding

Medical Research Council G0600977Wellcome Trust 091774
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Autism affects males more than females, giving rise to the idea that the influence of steroid hormones on early fetal brain development may be one important early biological risk factor. Utilizing the Danish Historic Birth Cohort and Danish Psychiatric Central Register, we identified all amniotic fluid samples of males born between 1993 and 1999 who later received ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision) diagnoses of autism, Asperger syndrome or PDD-NOS (pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified) (n=128) compared with matched typically developing controls. Concentration levels of Δ4 sex steroids (progesterone, 17α-hydroxy-progesterone, androstenedione and testosterone) and cortisol were measured with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. All hormones were positively associated with each other and principal component analysis confirmed that one generalized latent steroidogenic factor was driving much of the variation in the data. The autism group showed elevations across all hormones on this latent generalized steroidogenic factor (Cohen's d=0.37, P=0.0009) and this elevation was uniform across ICD-10 diagnostic label. These results provide the first direct evidence of elevated fetal steroidogenic activity in autism. Such elevations may be important as epigenetic fetal programming mechanisms and may interact with other important pathophysiological factors in autism.

Indexed as

Analysis of VarianceAsperger SyndromeAutistic DisorderCase-Control StudiesChromatography, LiquidCohort StudiesDenmarkFemaleFetusGestational AgeHumansHydrocortisoneMalePrincipal Component AnalysisSteroidsTandem Mass SpectrometryHydrocortisoneSteroids

Identifiers

PMID24888361
PMCPMC4184868
OpenAlexW2033077710

What OpenQuestion holds

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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.