Journal article
Adult digit ratio (2D:4D) is not related to umbilical cord androgen or estrogen concentrations, their ratios or net bioactivity
Lauren P Hollier, Jeffrey A Keelan, Esha SL Jamnadass, Murray T Maybery, Martha Hickey, Andrew JO Whitehouse
Early Human Development | ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD | Published : 2015
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Ratio of second digit length to fourth digit length (2D:4D) has been extensively used in human and experimental research as a marker of fetal sex steroid exposure. However, very few human studies have measured the direct relationship between fetal androgen or estrogen concentrations and digit ratio. AIMS: We investigated the relationships between both androgen and estrogen concentrations in umbilical cord blood and digit ratio in young adulthood. In addition we calculated measures of total serum androgen and total estrogen bioactivity and investigated their relationship to digit ratio. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SUBJECTS: An unselected subset of the Western Australia..
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Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
Awarded by NHMRC
Funding Acknowledgements
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. The authors would also like to acknowledge the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research (TICHR) for their long-term contribution to funding the Raine study over the last 20 years. The androgen analysis was funded by Australian Rotary Health. Core Management of the Raine study has been funded by the University of Western Australia (UWA), Curtin University, the UWA Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, the Raine Medical Research Foundation, TICHR, and the Women's and Infants Research Foundation. AJOW is funded by a Career Development Fellowship (#1004065) from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). MH is funded by a Practitioner Fellowship from the NHMRC (#1058935). JAK is funded by the Women and Infants' Research Foundation.