Dataset Information

Perinatal testosterone exposure and autistic-like traits in the general population: a longitudinal pregnancy-cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Unlabelled

Background

Increased prenatal testosterone exposure has been hypothesized as a mechanism underlying autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, no studies have prospectively measured prenatal testosterone exposure and ASD. The current study sought to determine whether testosterone concentrations in umbilical cord blood are associated with a clinical diagnosis of ASD in a small number of children and with autistic-like traits in the general population.

Methods

Umbilical cord blood was collected from 707 children. Samples were analyzed for total (TT) and bioavailable (BioT) testosterone concentrations. Parent report indicated that five individuals had a clinical diagnosis of ASD. Those participants without a diagnosis were approached in early adulthood to complete the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), a self-report measure of autistic-like traits, with 184 males (M = 20.10 years; SD= 0.65 years) and 190 females (M = 19.92 years; SD=0.68 years) providing data.

Results

The BioT and TT concentrations of the five children diagnosed with ASD were within one standard-deviation of the sex-specific means. Spearman's rank-order coefficients revealed no significant correlations between TT levels and scores on any AQ scale among males (rho range: -.01 to .06) or females (rho value range: -.07 to .01). There was also no significant association between BioT or TT concentrations and AQ scores among males (rho value range: -.07 to .08) or females (rho value range: -.06 to .12). Males were more likely than females to have 'high' scores (upper decile) on the AQ scale relating pattern and detail processing. However, the likelihood of a high score on this scale was unrelated to BioT and TT concentrations in both males and females.

Conclusions

These findings indicate that testosterone concentrations from umbilical cord blood are unrelated to autistic-like traits in the general population. However, the findings do not exclude an association between testosterone exposure in early intrauterine life and ASD.

SUBMITTER: Whitehouse AJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3500651 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Perinatal testosterone exposure and autistic-like traits in the general population: a longitudinal pregnancy-cohort study.

Whitehouse Andrew Jo AJ Mattes Eugen E Maybery Murray T MT Dissanayake Cheryl C Sawyer Michael M Jones Rachel M RM Pennell Craig E CE Keelan Jeffrey A JA Hickey Martha M

Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders 20121030 1

<h4>Unlabelled</h4><h4>Background</h4>Increased prenatal testosterone exposure has been hypothesized as a mechanism underlying autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, no studies have prospectively measured prenatal testosterone exposure and ASD. The current study sought to determine whether testosterone concentrations in umbilical cord blood are associated with a clinical diagnosis of ASD in a small number of children and with autistic-like traits in the general population.<h4>Methods</h4>Umbi ...[more]

PMID: 23110806

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundPrenatal exposure to air pollutants has been suggested as a possible etiologic factor for the occurrence of autism spectrum disorder.ObjectivesWe aimed to assess whether prenatal air pollution exposure is associated with childhood autistic traits in the general population.MethodsOurs was a collaborative study of four European population-based birth/child cohorts-CATSS (Sweden), Generation R (the Netherlands), GASPII (Italy), and INMA (Spain). Nitrogen oxides (NO2, NOx) and particulate matter (PM) with diameters of ? 2.5 ?m (PM2.5), ? 10 ?m (PM10), and between 2.5 and 10 ?m (PM(coarse)), and PM2.5 absorbance were estimated for birth addresses by land-use regression models based on monitoring campaigns performed between 2008 and 2011. Levels were extrapolated back in time to exact pregnancy periods. We quantitatively assessed autistic traits when the child was between 4 and 10 years of age. Children were classified with autistic traits within the borderline/clinical range and within the clinical range using validated cut-offs. Adjusted cohort-specific effect estimates were combined using random-effects meta-analysis.ResultsA total of 8,079 children were included. Prenatal air pollution exposure was not associated with autistic traits within the borderline/clinical range (odds ratio = 0.94; 95% CI: 0.81, 1.10 per each 10-?g/m3 increase in NO2 pregnancy levels). Similar results were observed in the different cohorts, for the other pollutants, and in assessments of children with autistic traits within the clinical range or children with autistic traits as a quantitative score.ConclusionsPrenatal exposure to NO2 and PM was not associated with autistic traits in children from 4 to 10 years of age in four European population-based birth/child cohort studies.CitationGuxens M, Ghassabian A, Gong T, Garcia-Esteban R, Porta D, Giorgis-Allemand L, Almqvist C, Aranbarri A, Beelen R, Badaloni C, Cesaroni G, de Nazelle A, Estarlich M, Forastiere F, Forns J, Gehring U, Ibarluzea J, Jaddoe VW, Korek M, Lichtenstein P, Nieuwenhuijsen MJ, Rebagliato M, Slama R, Tiemeier H, Verhulst FC, Volk HE, Pershagen G, Brunekreef B, Sunyer J. 2016. Air pollution exposure during pregnancy and childhood autistic traits in four European population-based cohort studies: the ESCAPE Project. Environ Health Perspect 124:133-140; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408483.

Project description:OBJECTIVES:The aim was to gain knowledge regarding the risk of perinatal death related to exposure to dental amalgam fillings in the mother. DESIGN:Population-based observational cohort study. SETTING:The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study, a Norwegian birth cohort of children born in 1999-2008 conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. PARTICIPANTS:72,038 pregnant women with data on the number of teeth filled with dental amalgam. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Data on perinatal death (stillbirth ? 22 weeks plus early neonatal death 0-7 days after birth) were obtained from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway. RESULTS:The absolute risk of perinatal death ranged from 0.20% in women with no amalgam-filled teeth to 0.67% in women with 13 or more teeth filled with amalgam. Analyses including the number of teeth filled with amalgam as a continuous variable indicated an increased risk of perinatal death by increasing number of teeth filled with dental amalgam (crude OR 1.065, 95% CI 1.034 to 1.098, p<0.001). After adjustment for potential confounders (mothers' age, education, body mass index, parity, smoking during pregnancy, alcohol consumption during pregnancy) included as categorical variables, there was still an increased risk for perinatal death associated with increasing number of teeth filled with amalgam (ORadj 1.041, 95% CI 1.008 to 1.076, p = 0.015). By an increased exposure from 0 to 16 teeth filled with amalgam, the model predicted an almost doubled odds ratio (ORadj 1.915, 95% CI 1.12 to 3.28). In groups with 1 to 12 teeth filled with amalgam the adjusted odds ratios were slightly, but not significantly, increased. The group with the highest exposure (participants with 13 or more teeth filled with amalgam) had an adjusted OR of 2.34 (95% CI 1.27 to 4.32; p = 0.007). CONCLUSION:The current findings suggest that the risk of perinatal death could increase in a dose-dependent way based on the mother's number of teeth filled with dental amalgam. However, we cannot exclude that the relatively modest odds ratios could be a result of residual confounding. Additional studies on the relationship between exposure to dental amalgam fillings during pregnancy and perinatal death are warranted.

Project description:Background Many empirical studies suggest that higher maternal age increases the likelihood of having an autistic child. However, little is known about factors that may explain this relationship or if higher maternal age is related to the number of autistic-like traits in offspring. One possibility is that mothers who have a higher number of autistic-like traits, including greater challenges performing mentalizing skills, are delayed in finding a partner. The goal of our study is to assess the relationship between maternal age, mentalizing skills and autistic-like traits as independent predictors of the number of autistic-like traits in offspring. Methods In a population-based study in the Netherlands, information on maternal age was collected during pre- and perinatal enrolment. Maternal mentalizing skills and autistic-like traits were assessed using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test and the Autism Spectrum Quotient, respectively. Autistic-like traits in children were assessed with the Social Responsiveness Scale. A total of 5718 mother/child dyads had complete data (Magechild = 13.5 years; 50.2% girls). Results The relationship between maternal age and autistic-like traits in offspring best fits a U-shaped curve. Furthermore, higher levels of autistic features in mothers are linked to higher levels of autistic-like traits in their children. Lower mentalizing performance in mothers is linked to higher levels of autistic-like traits in their children. Limitations We were able to collect data on both autistic-like traits and the mentalizing skills test in a large population of mothers, but we did not collect these data in a large number of the fathers. Conclusions The relationships between older and younger mothers may have comparable underlying mechanisms, but it is also possible that the tails of the U-shaped curve are influenced by disparate mechanisms. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13229-022-00507-4.

Project description:ObjectiveAutistic traits are associated with alterations in brain morphology. However, the anatomic location of these differences and their developmental trajectories are unclear. The primary objective of this longitudinal study was to explore the bidirectional relationship between autistic traits and brain morphology from childhood to adolescence.MethodParticipants were drawn from a population-based cohort. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses included 1950 (mean age 13.5) and 304 participants (mean ages 6.2 and 13.5), respectively. Autistic traits were measured with the Social Responsiveness Scale. Global brain measures and surface-based measures of gyrification, cortical thickness and surface area were obtained from T1-weighted MRI scans. Cross-sectional associations were assessed using linear regression analyses. Cross-lagged panel models were used to determine the longitudinal bidirectional relationship between autistic traits and brain morphology.ResultsCross-sectionally, higher levels of autistic traits in adolescents are associated with lower gyrification in the pars opercularis, insula and superior temporal cortex; smaller surface area in the middle temporal and postcentral cortex; larger cortical thickness in the superior frontal cortex; and smaller cerebellum cortex volume. Longitudinally, both autistic traits and brain measures were quite stable, with neither brain measures predicting changes in autistic traits, nor vice-versa.LimitationsAutistic traits were assessed at only two time points, and thus we could not distinguish within- versus between-person effects. Furthermore, two different MRI scanners were used between baseline and follow-up for imaging data acquisition.ConclusionsOur findings point to early changes in brain morphology in children with autistic symptoms that remain quite stable over time. The observed relationship did not change substantially after excluding children with high levels of autistic traits, bolstering the evidence for the extension of the neurobiology of autistic traits to the general population.

Dataset Information

Perinatal testosterone exposure and autistic-like traits in the general population: a longitudinal pregnancy-cohort study.

Unlabelled

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Perinatal testosterone exposure and autistic-like traits in the general population: a longitudinal pregnancy-cohort study.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets