ReviewNature human behaviour2026
The prenatal sex steroid theory of autism after 25 years.
Review in Nature human behaviour, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Sex-dependent vulnerability to early-life phthalates exposure and autism spectrum disorders: a systematic review.Frontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- The metabolic road from α-cells to β-cells.Nature chemical biology · 2026Article
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
Abstract
We first proposed the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism 25 years ago to account for a number of then-unexplained observations around autism, including (1) the more frequent diagnosis of autism in male than in female individuals and (2) apparent 'male-type' shifts in cognitive traits associated with autism, such as empathizing and systemizing. Here we review 25 years of research testing this theory. Early studies found that higher prenatal testosterone levels were associated with slower social, language and empathy development, greater attention to detail, stronger systemizing and more autistic traits. Subsequent studies suggested that both prenatal androgens and oestrogens are associated with autism. New methods in genetics and using stem-cell-derived neural organoids have further indicated the importance of sex steroid hormones for neurodevelopment, as well as atypical patterns in autism. These new findings support and open new lines of research into the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism.
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.