ArticleMolecular autism2017
Umbilical cord blood androgen levels and ASD-related phenotypes at 12 and 36 months in an enriched risk cohort study.
Article in Molecular autism, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 66 citations in OpenAlex.
- Steroid hormone pathways, vitamin D and autism: a systematic review.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2023Pooled it
- The prenatal sex steroid theory of autism after 25 years.Nature human behaviour · 2026Review
- Longitudinal multi-omics analysis of umbilical cord blood and childhood serum in Autism.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Valproate-Induced Autism and Sexual Hormone Disturbances: A Literature Review and Hypotheses.Neurochemical research · 2025Review
- Excess Neonatal Testosterone Causes Male-Specific Social and Fear Memory Deficits in Wild-Type Mice.eNeuro · 2025Article
- Neuroactive steroid exposure impacts neurodevelopment: Comparison of human and rodent placental contribution.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2025Review
- The intersection and developmental trajectory of morning cortisol and testosterone in autistic and neurotypical youth.Molecular autism · 2025Article
- Prenatal Androgen Exposure and Traits of Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Offspring: Odense Child Cohort.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2023Article
- Maternal androgens and autism spectrum disorder in the MARBLES prospective cohort study.Research in autism spectrum disorders · 2022Article
- Placental morphology in association with autism-related traits in the EARLI study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2022Article
- Is there an association between prenatal testosterone and autistic traits in adolescents?Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2022Article
- Autism-Like Behavior in the Offspring ofFrontiers in neuroscience · 2021Article
- The Prenatal Hormone Milieu in Autism Spectrum Disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Review
- Meconium androgens are correlated with ASD-related phenotypic traits in early childhood in a familial enriched risk cohort.Molecular autism · 2020Article
- Human gender development.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2020Review
- Untargeted Metabolomics Screen of Mid-pregnancy Maternal Serum and Autism in Offspring.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2020Article
- A Prospective Study of Environmental Exposures and Early Biomarkers in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Design, Protocols, and Preliminary Data from the MARBLES Study.Environmental health perspectives · 2018Article
- Risk of epilepsy in opposite-sex and same-sex twins: a twin cohort study.Biology of sex differences · 2018Article
- Are endocrine disrupting compounds environmental risk factors for autism spectrum disorder?Hormones and behavior · 2018Review
- Sex Differences in Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Review.Current psychiatry reports · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects more than 1% of children in the USA. The male-to-female prevalence ratio of roughly 4:1 in ASD is a well-recognized but poorly understood phenomenon. An explicit focus on potential etiologic pathways consistent with this sex difference, such as those involving prenatal androgen exposure, may help elucidate causes of ASD. Furthermore, the multi-threshold liability model suggests that the genetic mechanisms in females with ASD may be distinct and may modulate ASD risk in families with female ASD in the pedigree.
methodsWe examined umbilical cord blood from 137 children in the Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation (EARLI) cohort. EARLI is an ASD-enriched risk cohort with all children having an older sibling already diagnosed with ASD. Fetal testosterone (T), androstenedione (A4), and dehyroepiandrosterone (DHEA) levels were measured in cord blood using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Robust linear regression models were used to determine associations between cord blood androgen levels and 12-month Autism Observation Scales for Infants (AOSI) scores and 36-month Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) scores adjusting for potential confounders.
resultsIncreasing androgens were not associated with increasing 12-month AOSI score or 36-month total SRS score in either boys or girls. However, the association between T and autistic traits among subjects with a female older affected sibling was greater at 12 months (test of interaction,
conclusionsWhile increased prenatal testosterone levels were not associated with autistic traits at 12 or 36 months, our findings of a positive association in infants whose older ASD-affected siblings were female suggests an androgen-related mechanism that may be dependent on, or related to, genetic liability factors present more often in families containing female ASD cases. However, this initial finding, based on a small subgroup of our sample, should be interpreted with considerable caution.
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