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Age-Related Variations in Comparative Testosterone Concentrations Between Boys with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their typically-Developing Peers: A Challenge to the ‘Extreme Male Brain’ Hypothesis of ASD

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Abstract

There is some disagreement in the literature regarding the presence of elevated testosterone concentrations in boys with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). To explore that disagreement, the presence of significant differences in testosterone concentrations in young males with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and normally developing controls aged 6 yr. to 17 yr. was investigated. A total of 136 young males with ASD and 48 age-matched non-ASD males contributed samples of saliva at a set time and these were assayed for testosterone concentrations. There was no significant difference in testosterone concentrations between the two entire samples. When examined at two-yearly intervals, ASD participants had significantly lower testosterone concentrations at age 12 yr. to 13 yr. and also exhibited relatively homogeneous testosterone concentrations compared to non-ASD participants. These data challenge the ‘extreme male brain’ hypothesis for ASD and suggest that ASD young males were delayed in their pubertal development and that the developmental variability expected in the wider population was not present.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brain-Behaviour Research Group, University of New England, Queen Elizabeth Drive, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia

    Christopher F. Sharpley, Nicholas M. Andronicos & Linda L. Agnew

  2. Centre for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Bond University, University Drive, Robina, QLD, 4229, Australia

    Vicki Bitsika

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  1. Christopher F. Sharpley
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  2. Vicki Bitsika
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  3. Nicholas M. Andronicos
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  4. Linda L. Agnew
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Correspondence to Christopher F. Sharpley.

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This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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None of the authors has any conflict of interest to declare.

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Vicki Bitsika and Christopher F Sharpley share senior authorship

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Sharpley, C.F., Bitsika, V., Andronicos, N.M. et al. Age-Related Variations in Comparative Testosterone Concentrations Between Boys with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their typically-Developing Peers: A Challenge to the ‘Extreme Male Brain’ Hypothesis of ASD. J Dev Phys Disabil 29, 353–367 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-016-9528-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-016-9528-7

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