Background: Given the increasing recognition of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the last decade, researchers are investigating its biological causes with intense scrutiny. One line of research suggests that excess male sex hormones in the womb may affect brain development in the baby—creating what some term “extreme male brain.” Previous hormone studies, however, have been small in scale, and their findings have been inconsistent.

What’s new: On December 8, 2015, the journal Molecular Psychiatry published a study examining the role of hormone imbalance during pregnancy in ASD risk. The researchers examined Swedish medical records of 23,748 children with ASD aged 4 to 17 years and 208,796 matched controls. They found that women diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)—a disorder in which the ovaries produce too much of the male sex hormone called androgen—are 59 percent more likely than women without PCOS to have a child with ASD.

Why it’s important: This study supports the need to further examine the role that hormone imbalance during pregnancy plays in ASD risk. Based on this study alone, we cannot determine if PCOS in the mother increases ASD risk due to hormone exposure in the womb or because common genetic pathways influence the development of both PCOS and ASD.

What Parental Factors Are Associated with Autism?

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