title: Maternal bereavement and cryptorchidism in offspring.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cryptorchidism (undescended testis) is a common anomaly with largely unexplained etiology. Animal studies have suggested maternal emotional stress as a potential risk factor, but this has not been studied in humans. We aimed to investigate whether maternal bereavement due to the death of a close relative in the antenatal period increases the occurrence of cryptorchidism in the offspring.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a population-based cohort, we studied death of a close relative as the exposure and cryptorchidism entries in nationwide medical registries as the outcome. Danish national registries included 898,961 (23,609 exposed) boys born from 1978 to 2008 with a maximum of 30 years of follow-up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 20,947 boys had cryptorchidism, of whom 13,524 also underwent corrective surgery. We found no increased occurrence of cryptorchidism in the offspring (hazard ratio = 1.02 [95% confidence interval = 0.92-1.14]). Results were similar when the diagnosis was verified with surgery. We adjusted for maternal and paternal age, birth year, and family history of cryptorchidism.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We observed no association between maternal bereavement before and during pregnancy and the occurrence of cryptorchidism in the offspring.
authors.affiliation: From the aDepartment of Public Health, Section for Epidemiology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; bDepartment of Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York, NY; cDepartment of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, CA; dResearch Unit for Obstetrics and Gynecology, Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern, Odense, Denmark; eNew York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY; and fDepartment of Pediatrics, Perinatal Epidemiology Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: Katja Glejsted
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Ingstrup
authors.forename: Jørn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.forename: Chun Sen
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Ellen Aagaard
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Nohr
authors.forename: Bodil Hammer
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Bech
authors.forename: Jiong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Ezra
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Susser
authors.forename: Morten Søndergaard
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Jensen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001601:Bereavement; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003456:Cryptorchidism / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology