Maternal hirsutism and autism spectrum disorders in offspring

Because animal and human studies indicate that androgen exposure can influence neurodevelopment, it has been hypothesized that prenatal exposure to excess androgens may predispose to disorders with male-skewed ratio such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Therefore, maternal conditions characterized by hyperandrogenism such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or hirsutism may be relevant to child ASD. We previously found in a large Swedish case-control study of 23,748 ASD cases and 208,796 matched controls that PCOS in mothers is associated with increased offspring risk of ASD. In the same sample, we have now examined whether maternal diagnoses of hirsutism were associated with ASD. In both unadjusted logistic regression models and models adjusted for a variety of covariates, hirsutism was associated with higher odds of ASD. The most adjusted odds ratios for associations with ASD for hirsutism diagnosis before birth and lifetime diagnosis of hirsutism were 1.64 (95% CI: 0.94, 2.83) and 1.26 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.57), respectively. The presence of an association of maternal hirsutism with child ASD is consistent with the hypothesis that androgens may be involved in the etiology of ASD. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1544-1546. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.