title: Maternal gestational smoking, diabetes, alcohol drinking, pre-pregnancy obesity and the risk of cryptorchidism: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Maternal gestational smoking, diabetes, alcohol drinking, and pre-pregnancy obesity are thought to increase the risk of cryptorchidism in newborn males, but the evidence is inconsistent.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on the association between maternal gestational smoking, diabetes, alcohol drinking, and pre-pregnancy obesity and the risk of cryptorchidism. Articles were retrieved by searching PubMed and ScienceDirect, and the meta-analysis was conducted using Stata/SE 12.0 software. Sensitivity analysis was used to evaluate the influence of confounding variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We selected 32 articles, including 12 case-control, five nested case-control, and 15 cohort studies. The meta-analysis showed that maternal smoking (OR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.11-1.23) or diabetes (OR = 1.21, 95%CI: 1.00-1.46) during pregnancy were associated with increased risk of cryptorchidism. Overall, the association between maternal alcohol drinking (OR = 0.97, 95% CI: 0.87-1.07), pre-pregnancy body mass index (OR = 1.02, 95% CI: 0.95-1.09) and risk of cryptorchidism were not statistically significant. Additional analysis showed reduced risk (OR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.82-0.96) of cryptorchidism with moderate alcohol drinking during pregnancy. No dose-response relationship was observed for increments in body mass index in the risk of cryptorchidism. Sensitivity analysis revealed an unstable result for the association between maternal diabetes, alcohol drinking and cryptorchidism. Moderate heterogeneity was detected in studies of the effect of maternal alcohol drinking and diabetes. No publication bias was detected.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Maternal gestational smoking, but not maternal pre-pregnancy overweight or obesity, was associated with increased cryptorchidism risk in the offspring. Moderate alcohol drinking may reduce the risk of cryptorchidism while gestational diabetes may be a risk factor, but further studies are needed to verify this.
authors: Department of Urology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
authors: Lin
authors: L
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Urology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
authors: Xing-Huan
authors: XH
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Urology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
authors: Xin-Min
authors: XM
authors: Zheng
authors: Department of Urology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
authors: Tong-Zu
authors: TZ
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Urology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
authors: Wei-Bin
authors: WB
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Urology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
authors: Hang
authors: H
authors: Zheng
authors: Department of Obstetrical, Jingmen No. 2 People's Hospital, Jingmen Hubei, People's Republic of China.
authors: Mi-Feng
authors: MF
authors: Chen
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003456:Cryptorchidism / Q000209:etiology*; D016640:Diabetes, Gestational; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications*; D064887:Observational Studies as Topic; D011247:Pregnancy; D012306:Risk; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*