Search
Advanced Search
Share this Article info
  • Facebook StumbleUpon Connotea CiteULike Bibliography

Open Access

Correspondence

Cryptorchidism: Effects of Maternal Diabetes or PBDEs

Gavin W. ten Tusscher, Janna G. Koppe

Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology, Westfriesgasthuis, Hoorn, the Netherlands, ECOBABY Foundation, Loernersloot, the Netherlands, E-mail:Janna.Koppe@inter.nl.net

Citation: ten Tusscher GW, Koppe JG 2008. Cryptorchidism: Effects of Maternal Diabetes or PBDEs. Environ Health Perspect 116:A195-A195. http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.11096

Online: 1 May 2008

G.W.T. is chairman of the board of Health Care Without Harm Europe, a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization promoting sustainable health care. J.G.K. is the chairman of ECOBABY Foundation, a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization promoting research and education in the field of environmental influences in pregnancy and infant outcome.

It was with great interest that we read the article by Main et al. (2007) regarding polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and cryptochordism, and we are impressed with the data in humans. Main et al. stated that the concentration of PBDEs in breast milk was significantly higher in boys with cryptorchidism compared with controls. It is certainly possible that there is a link between fetal PBDE exposure and cryptorchidism; however, we noted that the cohort included children of diabetic mothers. Of the 33 boys with cryptorchidism, 4 in the Finnish group and 1 of 28 in the Danish breast milk–sample group had diabetic mothers. It is widely known that diabetes is a major cause of congenital malformations, and these malformations are dependent on the severity of the diabetes. Therefore, you cannot simply match by diabetes between cases and controls. In a study of 173 mothers with diabetes, we found that 10% of the offspring had congenital malformations related to the severity of the diabetes, classified according to the Priscilla White classification (Koppe et al. 1983).Virtanen et al. (2006), together with Main, published a study reporting an increased risk of cryptorchidism following mild gestational diabetes. In our opinion, the cases of mothers with diabetes should be excluded from analysis of congenital malformations, both in the breast milk group and the placenta group reported by Main et al. (2007).

The group of mothers with diabetes is in itself an interesting group. Are the placenta and breast milk levels of PBDEs or the fat content different between the diabetic cases and the others?

In general, because most PBDEs have phenobarbital-like effects, it seems plausible that they should cause an increase in congenital malformations, such as is seen with phenobarbital (Dessens et al. 1994;Koppe et al. 1973).

References Top

  1. Dessens AB, Boer K, Koppe JG, van de Poll NE, Cohen-Kettenis PT. 1994. Studies on long-lasting consequences of prenatal exposure to anticonvulsant drugs Acta Paediatr Suppl 404:54–64.7531043 Find this article online
  2. Koppe JG, Bosman W, Oppers VM, Spaans F, Kloosterman GJ. 1973. Epilepsy and congenital anomalies [in Dutch] Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd 117:220–224.4726754 Find this article online
  3. Koppe JG, Smorenberg-Schoorl ME, van den Berg-Loonen EM, Mills JL 1983. Diabetes, congenital malformations, and HLA-Type In: Stern L, Bard H, Friis-Hansen B. , editors. Intensive Care in the Newborn, IV. New York: Masson Publishing. pp. 15–18.
  4. Main KM, Kiviranta H, Virtanen HE, Sundqvist E, Tuomisto JT, Tuomisto J, et al. 2007. Flame retardants in placenta and breast milk and cryptorchidism in newborn boys Environ Health Perspect 115:1519–1526.17938745 Find this article online
  5. Virtanen HE, Tappanainen AE, Kaleva MM, Suomi AM, Main KM, Skakkebaek NE, et al. 2006. Mild gestational diabetes as a risk factor for congenital cryptorchidism J Clin Endocrinol Metab 91:4862–4865.17032715 Find this article online
Post Your Note (For Public Viewing)
Compose Your Note
 
Declare any competing interests.
Add a note to this text.
Please follow our guidelines for notes and comments and review our competing interests policy. Comments that do not conform to our guidelines will be promptly removed and the user account disabled. The following must be avoided:
  • Remarks that could be interpreted as allegations of misconduct
  • Unsupported assertions or statements
  • Inflammatory or insulting language
Add a note to this text.
You must be logged in to add a note to an article. You may log in by clicking here or cancel this note.
Add a note to this text.
You cannot annotate this area of the document. Close
Add a note to this text.
You cannot create an annotation that spans different sections of the document; please adjust your selection.
Close
Rate This Article
Please follow our guidelines for rating and review our competing interests policy. Comments that do not conform to our guidelines will be promptly removed and the user account disabled. The following must be avoided:
  1. Remarks that could be interpreted as allegations of misconduct
  2. Unsupported assertions or statements
  3. Inflammatory or insulting language
Compose Your Annotation
 
Declare any competing interests.