Brief Report: Facial Asymmetry and Autistic-Like Traits in the General Population

Boutrus, Maryam; Gilani, Syed Zulqarnain; Maybery, Murray T.; Alvares, Gail A.; Tan, Diana Weiting; Eastwood, Peter R.; Mian, Ajmal; Whitehouse, Andrew J. O.

doi:10.1007/s10803-020-04661-7

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…While there appears to be some evidence of possible hereditary effects of FA presented in parents' facial structures, the broader evidence suggests that FA may be a phenotypic expression that is more pronounced among individuals above the clinical threshold of ASD. A recent study conducted by our lab group reported non‐significant associations between FA and subclinical autistic‐like characteristics in 289 young adults from the general population (Boutrus et al, 2020). Consistent with Boutrus et al (2020), we found that overall FA did not correlate with behavioural broad autism phenotype assessed by the BAPQ (Hurley et al, 2007) and the CC‐A (Whitehouse & Bishop, 2009) among parents of autistic children.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…A recent study conducted by our lab group reported non‐significant associations between FA and subclinical autistic‐like characteristics in 289 young adults from the general population (Boutrus et al, 2020). Consistent with Boutrus et al (2020), we found that overall FA did not correlate with behavioural broad autism phenotype assessed by the BAPQ (Hurley et al, 2007) and the CC‐A (Whitehouse & Bishop, 2009) among parents of autistic children.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

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Facial asymmetry in parents of children on the autism spectrum

et al. 2021

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Greater facial asymmetry has been consistently found in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) relative to children without ASD. There is substantial evidence that both facial structure and the recurrence of ASD diagnosis are highly heritable within a nuclear family. Furthermore, sub‐clinical levels of autistic‐like behavioural characteristics have also been reported in first‐degree relatives of individuals with ASD, commonly known as the ‘broad autism phenotype’. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to examine whether a broad autism phenotype expresses as facial asymmetry among 192 biological parents of autistic individuals (134 mothers) compared to those of 163 age‐matched adults without a family history of ASD (113 females). Using dense surface‐modelling techniques on three dimensional facial images, we found evidence for greater facial asymmetry in parents of autistic individuals compared to age‐matched adults in the comparison group (p = 0.046, d = 0.21 [0.002, 0.42]). Considering previous findings and the current results, we conclude that facial asymmetry expressed in the facial morphology of autistic children may be related to heritability factors. Lay Abstract In a previous study, we showed that autistic children presented with greater facial asymmetry than non‐autistic children. In the current study, we examined the amount of facial asymmetry shown on three‐dimensional facial images of 192 parents of autistic children compared to a control group consisting of 163 similarly aged adults with no known history of autism. Although parents did show greater levels of facial asymmetry than those in the control group, this effect is statistically small. We concluded that the facial asymmetry previously found in autistic children may be related to genetic factors.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Facial asymmetry in parents of children on the autism spectrum

et al. 2021

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“…To examine the effects of intergenerational transmission on phenotypes other than brain structure and function or behavioral traits assessed by questionnaires, we obtained the following measurements: face morphology, ratio of second to fourth digit length (2D/4D ratio), and characteristics of the drawn tree. The brain and face have been reported to share several genetic loci ( 175 ), and facial asymmetry is associated with broader autistic phenotypes ( 176 , 177 ). Moreover, 2D/4D ratio is considered to reflect sex steroid hormone exposure during embryonic development ( 178 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transmit Radiant Individuality to Offspring (TRIO) study: investigating intergenerational transmission effects on brain development

Matsudaira,

Yamaguchi,

Taki

2023

Front. Psychiatry

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Intergenerational transmission is a crucial aspect of human development. Although prior studies have demonstrated the continuity of psychopathology and maladaptive upbringing environments between parents and offspring, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain unclear. We have begun a novel neuroimaging research project, the Transmit Radiant Individuality to Offspring (TRIO) study, which focuses on biological parent-offspring trios. The participants of the TRIO study were Japanese parent-offspring trios consisting of offspring aged 10–40 and their biological mother and father. Structural and functional brain images of all participants were acquired using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Saliva samples were collected for DNA analysis. We obtained psychosocial information, such as intelligence, mental health problems, personality traits, and experiences during the developmental period from each parent and offspring in the same manner as much as possible. By April 2023, we completed data acquisition from 174 trios consisting of fathers, mothers, and offspring. The target sample size was 310 trios. However, we plan to conduct genetic and epigenetic analyses, and the sample size is expected to be expanded further while developing this project into a multi-site collaborative study in the future. The TRIO study can challenge the elucidation of the mechanism of intergenerational transmission effects on human development by collecting diverse information from parents and offspring at the molecular, neural, and behavioral levels. Our study provides interdisciplinary insights into how individuals’ lives are involved in the construction of the lives of their descendants in the subsequent generation.

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