title: Maternal use of oral contraceptives during early pregnancy and risk of hypospadias in male offspring.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the association between maternal use of oral contraceptives in early pregnancy and increased prevalence of hypospadias in male offspring.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a nationwide population-based case-control study using data from nationwide medical databases. Among live male births between January 1, 1996, and December 31, 2005, we identified all cases of hypospadias recorded anytime postpartum (n = 1683) and randomly selected 10 controls per case without such a diagnosis (n = 15 650), matched by year and hospital of birth. We used conditional logistic regression to estimate prevalence ratios stratified according to time of diagnosis (within 6 months postpartum, >6 months postpartum), controlling for potential confounding factors including maternal age, birth order, maternal smoking, prescriptions for ovulation-inducing drugs, antiepileptics, and antidiabetics, and a maternal diagnosis of pre-eclampsia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We included 1683 cases of hypospadias and 15,650 population controls during 1996-2005. Among the 1186 boys who had their hypospadias diagnosis recorded within 6 months postpartum, 28 (2.4%) had been exposed to oral contraceptives between 30 days before conception until the end of the first trimester. Among the controls, 307 (2.8%) were similarly exposed, corresponding to a prevalence ratio of 0.85 (95% CI: 0.57-1.27) after adjusting for possible confounders. For a diagnosis registered >6 months postpartum, the adjusted prevalence ratio was 1.12 (95% CI: 0.61-2.06).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data do not support the hypothesis that maternal use of oral contraceptives around conception is associated with an increased prevalence of hypospadias in the offspring.
authors: Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark. m.noergaard@rn.dk
authors: Mette
authors: M
authors: Nørgaard
authors: Pia
authors: P
authors: Wogelius
authors: Lars
authors: L
authors: Pedersen
authors: Kenneth J
authors: KJ
authors: Rothman
authors: Henrik T
authors: HT
authors: Sørensen
mesh_terms: D000014:Abnormalities, Drug-Induced / Q000209:etiology*; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007021:Hypospadias / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D003276:Contraceptives, Oral