Decrease in anogenital distance among male infants with prenatal phthalate exposure
Swan SH, Main KM, Liu F, et al. (2005). Environmental Health Perspectives.
What they found
Boys whose mothers had higher levels of four phthalate metabolites in pregnancy had a shorter anogenital index (anogenital distance relative to weight), a marker of reduced male hormone action before birth seen in phthalate-exposed rodents. For the top versus bottom quarter of MBP, the odds of a shorter-than-expected index were 10.2 times higher (95% CI 2.5–42.2).
Read this too
An erratum was published (EHP, September 2005; content not checked). Employees of cosmetics trade associations (McEwen and Renner, EHP 2006) questioned the validity of the measure; Swan replied.
- Sample
- 85 mother-son pairs with prenatal urine samples (134 boys examined)
- What it can't tell you
- Small sample with one prenatal urine sample per mother. Anogenital distance is a marker, not a disease. Wide confidence intervals.
- Funding
- US National Institutes of Health (NIEHS, NCRR), per Europe PMC
- Topics
- Health effects, Chemicals, Baby and kids
- Checked against
- Abstract (Europe PMC, PMID 16079079, PMC1280349)