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

Diana Weiting Tan*, Murray T. Maybery, Michael W. Clarke, Renata Di Lorenzo, Melissa O. Evans, Michael Mancinone, Christina Panos, Andrew J. O. Whitehouse

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)
71 Downloads (Pure)

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.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0198779
Pages (from-to)1-7
Number of pages7
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume13
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Jun 2018
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2018. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

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