Foetal testosterone Longitudinal Study

Post Reply New Topic

I find this study very interesting, I don't think the results have been completely published yet. It's a study in collaboration with the State Serum Institute in Denmark. There were previous studies that showed that children who had more testosterone in their amniotic fluid during pregnancy have more autistic-like traits. I think this study has shown that autistic children in Denmark have elevated levels of testosterone.

I find the study particularly interesting because my mother has elevated levels of testosterone and PCOS. Women with autism are more likely to have these as well.

What are your thoughts on this study?

http://www.autismresearchcentre.com/pro ... _foetaltst

***

Interesting, I think we need more longitudinal studies related to ASD.

If an association is found it will give some empirical support to Simon Baron-Cohen's theories, I suppose.*edited for grammar/tense.

My sister has polycystic ovarian syndrome. She's NT but obviously she's a sibling of someone with an ASD diagnosis.

I've always believed in something similar to this. I know for a fact I was exposed to too much androgens and I've have tons of related health issues besides Just having AS

I'm quite interested when the results will be published.

Baron-Cohen talks about it here: (Click Here)

Interesting video. I'm going to watch the rest of it now.

I was not a tomboy but I did get my period a little late, though I know one example doesn't make a difference to the validity of the study,just sharing.

One interesting finding from earlier in the video: Boys spend more time looking at a geometric shape than a human face at one day old than girls and conversely, girls at the same age spend more time looking at a human face than a geometric shape. Another study found that if a child spent over 70% of their time looking at the geometric shape rather than the human face (when presented with both) the probability of that child developing autism was 100%!

I also started my period very late, have bad acne, and have hair in really strange places women shouldn't have hair (like my chest, which I wax). I also have a more anabolic metabolism (build more muscle) than most women and lose and gain weight very quickly.

My mother has some VERY strong autistic traits on her side of the family. My mom is NT, but she has a few AS traits, like she always has periodic obsessions that she engages in like 24/7. She has a normal social life though - I think it's because she puts a lot of effort into her appearance and hangs out with very shallow people who only really care about that. Her dad (and her dad's mom) is very AS, and her brother is autistic. My mom definitely doesn't have PCOS though, but I think high testosterone would be genetic.

It makes me wonder if people are more likely to have autism passed down from their mothers than fathers. That would really support the testosterone hypothesis. Alternatively, there could be the upregulation of a protein (or downregulation of a suppressor protein of that protein) in the fetus that causes it to secrete a protein that encourages the mother to produce more testosterone.

Great. More people saying I have a 'male brain'.

I had a professor for a course called Psychology of Women when I was doing my undergrad degree in psychology who said there was no real evidence to show biological differences between male and female brains. She had the view that gender is entirely socially constructed and that statement supported her view. *I think she was wrong. As Simon Baron-Cohen said near the end of his video his stance is politically incorrect ATM. He presented evidence for substantial differences in male and female brains.Overall brain volume is greater in men than women and even greater in autistic people than in men. This could mean more specialization, local connections in men and even more in autistic people. Similarly men have bigger amygdala than women and autistic people have even bigger ones than the men. This could reflect less pruning of neurons in the emotional/fear center in men and even less in autistic people. Then the planum temporale (the language center) and the corpus callosum (important for far distance connections between brain regions across hemispheres) are smaller in men than women and smallest of all in autistic people.

I started menstruating at age 12 and developed normally. But I was a little bit of a tomboy. Like he was talking about in the video I always preferred toys that you could build things with, like Legos, and cars and trains. And I loved climbing trees and exploring in the woods. I did play with dolls and other girly toys some, but not much, only a few very specific things. I remember when the other girls my age liked painting their nails and doing their hair up really big (it was the 80s) and I just wasn't interested.

I've always felt like I have a very male personality and a male brain. A friend used to tell me that I think more like a man than a woman. It offended me because I thought that was a very sexist comment, but now it makes sense.

It is interesting. Personally, tests have revealed that I do have high testosterone levels. I found this out after being tested at 18 when I had went an entire year without menstruating. I was only interested in dating women for about five years during this time. High testosterone was prominent among my lesbian friends, sort of a running joke even. I have heard it said that the autism community has a higher number of people who identify as gay/bi/etc. This could be for a variety of reasons, however. Anyway, that's a whole different topic..

My autism most definitely comes from my dad's side, however. The whole "testosterone in the womb thing" has never sat well with me regardless.