An interesting fact surrounding autism has always puzzled me. It’s the higher prevalence of autism in boys over girls. In 2014 estimates, out of the 1% autism rate in the world population, boys are 4 times more likely to have autism. One key difference between all males and females is the sex hormone testosterone.
In a section of an article by Daniela Ostatníkova and her colleagues, they dive into the possible contribution this difference has in the varying prevalence rate between the genders. You can find it linked below. They review multiple studies that trying to find differences in testosterone between normal functioning people and autistic people. Some studies look in the prenatal state or the state before birth. They hypothesized that hormonal imbalances during development in the womb may contribute to ASD. They spot a possible link between a higher testosterone exposure to autism-like behavior. This is logically supported through the observation that, in general, males operate in a way that is less emotional and more systematic to girls. ASD patients also display this same tendency even stronger than a typical male. This is the basis of extreme-male brain theory developed by Baron- Cohen and his colleagues.
What about outside the womb or postnatal? This increased testosterone levels also is displayed in ASD children. Aggressive behaviors that males more often display, which correlates to testosterone, also showed a positive correlation.
Pathogenesis is the way a disease or disorder originates and develops. In autism-related research, this is a rapidly developing field. Many factors are being discovered such as the role of testosterone that we discussed. This research field is one that is very interesting to me as it plays a pivotal role in finding treatments or even a cure to ASD.
Citation:
Ostatníková, D., Lakatošová, S., Babková, J., Hodosy, J., & Celec, P. (2020). Testosterone and the brain: from cognition to autism. Physiological research, 69(Suppl 3), S403–S419. https://doi.org/10.33549/physiolres.934592
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