Aim of the StudyEndocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC) are exogenous agents that are capable of altering the endocrine system functions, including the regulation of developmental processes. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC) exposure and other parental factors in the aetiology of hypospadias and cryptorchidism.
MethodsA case-control study was conducted. Cases ( 210) were infants between 6 months and 14 years of age diagnosed with hypospadias or cryptorchidism attended in our hospital over a period of 18 months, and controls (210), infants within the same range of age and without any urological disorders who attended the outpatient clinic of the same hospital during the same. Their selection was independent of exposures. Data on parental occupational exposure to EDC and other sociodemographic variables were collected by face-to-face interviews and systematically for both cases and controls. Crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) were estimated to control for confounding with their 95% CI by means of logistic regressions. Specifically, three final models of dichotomous outcome were constructed: one for cryptorchidism, one for hypospadias, and the third considering both malformations together. Hosmer-Lemeshow test was used to assess the goodness-of-fit of the models. Their discriminatory accuracy (DA) was ascertained by estimating their areas under the receiver-operating-characteristics (ROC) curves (AUC) along with their 95%CI.
ResultsAssociations were found between advanced maternal age (OR adjusted=1,82; 95%CI: 1,14-2,92), mother´s consumption of antiabortives (OR=5.40; 1.40-38.5) and other drugs (OR=2.02;
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