ArticleMolecular autism2015
Sex-different abnormalities in the right second to fourth digit ratio in Japanese individuals with autism spectrum disorders.
Article in Molecular autism, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Does testosterone impair men's cognitive empathy? Evidence from two large-scale randomized controlled trials.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Trial
- Prenatal exposure to air pollutants and the second to fourth digit ratio in adult women.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- 2D:4D Ratio and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Brunei Darussalam.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2021Article
- Second-to-Fourth Digit Ratio (2D:4D) in Psychiatric Disorders: A Systematic Review of Case-control Studies.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2021Review
- The association between second to fourth digit ratio, reproductive and general health among women: findings from an Israeli pregnancy cohort.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Lower Digit Ratio (2D:4D) Indicative of Excess Prenatal Androgen Is Associated With Increased Sociability and Greater Social Capital.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2019Article
- Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction in Pregnancy: an App-Based Programme to Improve the Health of Mothers and Children (MINDFUL/PMI Study).Geburtshilfe und Frauenheilkunde · 2018Article
- Associations Between the 2nd to 4th Digit Ratio and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Population-Based Samples of Boys and Girls: Findings from the Study to Explore Early Development.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2018Article
- Cross-national gender variations of digit ratio (2D:4D) correlate with life expectancy, suicide rate, and other causes of death.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is higher in men than in women. The extreme male brain theory proposes that excessive prenatal testosterone activity could be a risk factor for ASDs. However, it is unclear whether prenatal sex hormone activity is a risk factor for women. The ratio of the length of the second to fourth digits (2D:4D) is considered to be a biomarker of the prenatal ratio of testosterone to estrogen. Therefore, this study compared the 2D:4D ratios of women with and without ASDs to determine if prenatal sex hormone activity could be a risk factor for ASDs in women.
methodsThe study included 35 Japanese men with ASDs, 17 Japanese women with ASDs, 59 typically developed (TD) Japanese men, and 57 TD Japanese women. We measured digit lengths and compared the 2D:4D ratios among the four groups. We also examined the relationship between the 2D:4D ratio and the autism-spectrum quotient score of each group.
resultsIn our cohort, men with ASDs tended to have lower right-hand 2D:4D ratios relative to TD men. In contrast, the right 2D:4D ratios in women with ASDs were higher compared to those of TD women. No significant correlations were found between the 2D:4D ratios and the autism-spectrum quotient scores in any group. The higher right 2D:4D ratios in women could not be explained by age or full-scale intelligent quotients. This group difference was not found for the left 2D:4D or right-left 2D:4D ratios.
conclusionsWe found a reverse direction of abnormality in the right 2D:4D ratio for men and women with ASDs. It has been posited that high prenatal testosterone levels lead to a lower 2D:4D ratio. However, a recent animal study showed that testosterone injection to dam leads to a higher right 2D:4D ratio especially for female offspring, which might be mediated by abnormal adipose accumulation in the fingertip. Therefore, the present findings suggest that high prenatal testosterone could be a risk factor both for Japanese men and women with ASDs, elucidating one potential etiology of ASDs in women.
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