The empathizing–systemizing (E–S) theory of autism 1 supports the clinical presentation of the disease and its strong association with the male sex. This interest is not only due to the striking male-to-female ratio in autism but also due to the dramatic effect of steroids on brain development and behavior. Sex hormones have recently garnered the interest of researchers for their roles in autism. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report a strong positive correlation between TT, FT and DHEA, suggesting an adrenal source for elevated androgen levels. FSH levels were also significantly higher in the autism group than in the control group ( p < 0.01). DHEA positively correlated with previously measured TT (r = + 0.79, p < 0.001) and FT (r = + 0.72, p < 0.001) levels in the same autism group. DHEA was significantly higher ( p < 0.05) in the autism group compared to controls. Moreover, correlation analysis with measured hormones and previously measured total testosterone (TT) and free testosterone (FT) in the same group of autism was conducted. A case-control study investigating estradiol (E2), DHEA, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) levels was conducted with 31 Saudi males with autism and 28 healthy, age-matched boys plasma. Therefore, this study investigated postnatal sex hormone levels and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) to shed light on a potential role for the adrenal gland in autism pathophysiology. However, published data on postnatal sex hormone levels in autistic children are controversial and the source of prenatal androgen exposure in autism remains unknown. Androgens have been implicated in autism pathophysiology as recently, prenatal exposure to elevated androgens has been proposed as risk factor.

Adrenal glands sex hormones