During the last two decades, chronic disease has replaced infectious disease as the major focus of public health concern. The top 4 leading causes of death in the United States are chronic diseases. There remains much unknown about the etiology of many chronic conditions, which in most cases is probably multifactorial. Studies from the 1990s found that effects on the fetal environment, such as through poor or inadequate nutrition, can result in an increased risk of adult onset of chronic conditions, such as coronary heart disease. This has been called the fetal origins hypothesis (also known as the Barker theory), which proposes that external influences on the fetal environment can increase the risk of later disease in adulthood.
Diethylstilbestrol (DES)—a synthetic estrogen given to US women between 1938 and 1971 to prevent pregnancy complications illustrates the fetal origins of later in life disease. In utero DES exposure left mature female offspring at increased risk of clear cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina and cervix, breast cancer, structural reproductive tract anomalies, an increased infertility rate, and poor pregnancy outcomes, while male offspring have an increased incidence of genital abnormalities and a possibly increased risk of prostate and testicular cancer. These observed human effects have been confirmed in numerous animal models, which have also predicted changes later found in DES-exposed humans, such as increased incidence of uterine fibroids, oviductal malformations, and second generational effects such as increased menstrual irregularities and possibly ovarian cancer in DES granddaughters and increased hypospadias in DES grandsons.
Diethylstilbestrol shows the adverse effects of fetal exposures to synthetic chemicals may not be apparent at birth or even for many years afterward, and that continued monitoring of this cohort of exposed children and grandchildren is necessary to inform potential effects of prenatal exposures to other contaminants.
Reference. Image credit Hush Naidoo.
DES DiEthylStilbestrol Resources
- DES studies on cancers and screening.
- DES studies on epigenetics and transgenerational effects.
- DES studies on fertility and pregnancy.
- DES studies on gender identity and psychological health.
- DES studies on in-utero exposure to DES and side-effects.
- DES studies on the genital tract.
- Papers on DES lawsuits.
- DES videos and posts tagged DES, the DES-exposed, DES victims.