Grandmothers’ endocrine disruption during pregnancy, low birth weight, and preterm birth in third generation
Researchers examined 54,334 grandmother–mother pairs and 128,275 grandchildren. Reported grandmother DES use during pregnancy was associated with higher odds of premature birth (adjusted OR 2.88) and low birthweight (3.09) in grandchildren. The low-birthweight association was smaller when restricted to term births.
Why it matters to adoptees: Relevant to pregnancy outcomes in descendants of people exposed before birth, including adoptees whose exposure history may be unavailable.
Limitations: Reported historical exposure and observational data; adjustment cannot eliminate all confounding. Not an adoptee cohort. Shares a research programme with the 2018 ADHD paper; outcomes and participants must not be counted as independent replications. Does not establish an epigenetic mechanism or effects after lactation suppression.
- Research type
- Observational cohort study
- Source reviewed
- Abstract
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Age group
- Adults / Offspring across generations
Study context and review
Age group as recorded: Adults; offspring across generations
Adoption context: Medical evidence relevant to adoptees; not an adoptee sample
Programme: Nurses' Health Study II — DES multigenerational analyses
Institutional context: Other
University and public-health research; not an adoption service evaluation. Funding and commissioning are distinct; unreviewed fields are not evidence of independence.
Scoped bibliographic and source review. Bibliographic relationships are not a bias or safety rating.
Topics: adoptee-relevant medical evidence, birthweight, DES, diethylstilbestrol, medical history, multigenerational health, premature birth
Review scope: PubMed abstract and publication metadata. Online publication 5 April 2021; PubMed gives issue date 6 January 2022, volume 50(6). Year uses first online publication.
Country as recorded: United States
- Funding
- Not yet checked
- Commissioner
- Not yet checked
- Funder role
- Not yet checked
- Declared conflicts
- Not yet checked
- Recruitment
- Not yet checked for this entry
- Adoptee involvement
- Not established in material reviewed
Entry: study_28d84292b29b0878