Background Prenatal exposure to diethylstilbestrol causes infertilityin male mice and has been associated with malformations of thegenital tract in men. However, little is known about the fertilityof men who have been exposed prenatally to diethylstilbestrol.
Methods In 1950 through 1952, 1646 pregnant women were enrolledin a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of diethylstilbestrolat Chicago Lying-in Hospital. We interviewed men who were bornto the women during that study about their fertility.
Results Four decades after their birth, we were able to trace548 of the surviving sons (68 percent). Ninety percent consentedto be interviewed (253 who had been exposed to diethylstilbestrolin utero and 241 who had not been exposed). Congenital malformationsof the genitalia were reported three times as often by the diethylstilbestrol-exposedmen as by the sons of the women in the placebo group. Withinthe exposed group, malformations were reported twice as oftenamong those exposed to diethylstilbestrol before the 11th weekof gestation as among those exposed later (P = 0.05). Men withgenital malformations were nonetheless as fertile as other men.The diethylstilbestrol-exposed men (with or without genitalmalformations) had no impairment of fertility by any measure,including whether they had ever impregnated a woman, age atthe birth of their first child, average number of children,medical diagnosis of a fertility problem, or length of timeto conception in the most recent pregnancy of the female partner.Finally, diethylstilbestrol-exposed men had no impairment ofsexual function, as indicated, for example, by the frequencyof intercourse or reported episodes of decreased libido.
Conclusions High doses of diethylstilbestrol did not lead toimpairment of fertility or sexual function in adult men whohad been exposed to the drug in utero.
Source Information
From the Epidemiology Branch (A.J.W., D.D.B.) and the Statistics and Biomathematics Branch (C.R.W.), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, N.C.; the Health Sciences Center, University of Virginia, Charlottesville (P.P.H.); and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chicago, Chicago (A.L.H.).
Address reprint requests to Dr. Wilcox at the Epidemiology Branch, NIEHS, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709.
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