Umbilical cord androgens and estrogens in relation to verbal and nonverbal abilities at age 10 in the general population

Esha S L Jamnadass; Jeffrey A Keelan; Suzanna N Russell-Smith; Martha Hickey; Murray T Maybery; Andrew J O Whitehouse

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0173493

Umbilical cord androgens and estrogens in relation to verbal and nonverbal abilities at age 10 in the general population

PLoS One. 2017 Mar 9;12(3):e0173493. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0173493. eCollection 2017.

Authors

Esha S L Jamnadass^{1

2}, Jeffrey A Keelan³, Suzanna N Russell-Smith¹, Martha Hickey⁴, Murray T Maybery¹, Andrew J O Whitehouse²

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
² Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
³ School of Women's and Infant's Health, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
⁴ Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Melbourne and the Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Abstract

Sex differences in verbal and nonverbal abilities are a contentious area of research. Prenatal steroids have been shown to have masculinizing effects on the brain that may affect the development of nonverbal and verbal abilities in later life. The current study examined a wide range of biologically active sex steroids (both androgens and estrogens) in umbilical cord blood at birth in a large pregnancy cohort in relation to performance on nonverbal (Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices) and verbal (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-3 and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III) measures at age 10 years. Overall, Androgen and Estrogen composites in cord blood were not found to be predictive of performance on verbal and nonverbal measures at age 10. These data suggest that late gestation sex steroids do not exert a major effect on nonverbal and verbal abilities in middle childhood.

MeSH terms

Adult
Androgens / metabolism*
Child
Estrogens / metabolism*
Female
Humans
Male
Nonverbal Communication / physiology*
Pregnancy
Sex Characteristics
Umbilical Cord / metabolism*
Verbal Behavior / physiology*
Young Adult

Substances

Androgens
Estrogens

Grants and funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Telethon Kids Institute for their long term contribution to funding the Raine study over the last 20 years. Core Management of the Raine study has been funded by the University of Western Australia (UWA), Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, the UWA Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, the Raine Medical Research Foundation, the Telethon Kids Institute, and the Women's and Infants Research Foundation. The two-year follow-up was funded by the NHMRC and the Raine Medical Research Foundation, and funding from the NHMRC (#403968) and Australian Rotary Health was used for the androgen analysis. AJOW (#1004065) and MH are funded by Career Development Fellowships from the NHMRC; JAK is funded by the Women and Infants’ Research Foundation. This study was partly funded by NHMRC Project Grant # 1003424. The authors are extremely grateful to the study participants and their families, as well as the whole Raine Study Team which includes the Cohort Manager, Data Manager and data collection researchers.