No relationship between autistic traits and salivary testosterone concentrations in men from the general population

PLoS One. 2018 Jun 14;13(6):e0198779. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0198779. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

It is suggested that testosterone may play a part in the higher prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in males compared to females. Previous studies have reported elevated postnatal testosterone levels in children and women with ASD but not in men. We compared levels of salivary testosterone across 67 undergraduate males (Mage 19.5 yrs, SD 1.92) selected for low, mid-range and high levels of autistic traits assessed using the Autism-spectrum Quotient. Analyses revealed no significant differences in testosterone concentrations across the three groups. The current data add to the increasing evidence for the lack of relationship between autistic traits and postnatal levels of testosterone in men.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder / metabolism
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder / psychology*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Personality / physiology
  • Saliva / metabolism*
  • Testosterone / metabolism*
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Testosterone

Grants and funding

Diana Tan was supported by an International Postgraduate Research Scholarship in Australia (https://www.education.gov.au/research-training-program). Analysis for this work was performed by the Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis (Metabolomics Australia) and was supported by infrastructure funding from the Western Australian State Government in partnership with the Australian Federal Government, through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (https://www.education.gov.au/national-collaborative-research-infrastructure-strategy-ncris). Andrew Whitehouse was supported by a Senior Research Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council (APP1077966; https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/grants-funding/apply-funding/research-fellowships). Data collection was partly supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant (DP120104713) to Murray Maybery and Andrew Whitehouse (http://www.arc.gov.au/discovery-projects). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.