Psychopathology in prenatally DES-exposed females: current and lifetime adjustment.

Abstract

This report concerns the long-term effects of prenatal exposure to diethylstilbestrol (DES) on overall psychologic functioning in females. Thirty DES-exposed women aged 17-30 years and 30 control women with a history of abnormal Pap smear findings were interviewed with the SADS-L and completed the SCL-90-R and the PRI-Q. Both DES and PAP women showed elevated symptoms on the SCL-90-R in comparison to published norms and were similar to women with cancer, but their rates of psychiatric disorders (SADS-L/RDC) at the time of the evaluation did not differ from community norms. However, both groups met criteria for Major Depressive Disorder (lifetime) significantly above expectancy, and the DES women reported slightly more episodes than the control group. The DES women also had significantly more problems than the PAP control group in social relations with spouses and other significant persons.

Sexual activity level and sexual functioning in women prenatally exposed to diethylstilbestrol.

“…Another etiologic factor in the apparent hyposexuality of DES women may be depression, which is known to decrease sexual interest and function in many individuals (36,37). Life-history depression rates in our DES sample were high (16). However, the life-history depression rates in our PAP sample were even higher, although not significantly so.…”

“…Also, as mentioned above, our PAP women were not earlier than the DES subjects with regard to psychosexual milestones in general and the age at first intercourse in particular. There is a different explanation to be considered: as reported elsewhere (16), DES women indicate significantly more problems in their relationships with both spouses or mates and dating partners as assessed by the Personal Resources Inventory (32), a part of our psychopathology battery. A possible underlying reason is suggested by recent findings of a negative relationship between testosterone levels and satisfaction with heterosexual relationships in women that were not selected for prenatal histories and presumably not exposed to DES (33): elevated testosterone levels have been found also in DES women, especially in those with hirsutism (8,34) and may be similarly associated with relationship problems.…”

“…The purpose of this report is to present the findings on sexual activity and functioning in the first 30 DES daughters evaluated as compared to their control group. This is one of a series of reports covering different aspects of this study (16)(17)(18).…”

Psychopathology and social functioning in men prenatally exposed to diethylstilbestrol (DES).

“…Five studies have examined DES effects on psychopathology: the first conducted by Vessey et al (1) who investigated the rate of "psychiatric disease" in DES sons and daughters, three by Ehrhardt et al (18) and MeyerBahlburg and colleagues (5,17) who examined psychiatric diagnosis and psychosocial functioning, and one by Fried-Cassorla et al (19) who studied DSM-III diagnoses in DES-exposed women, their unexposed sisters, and controls with abnormal Pap smears. Each is summarized below and tabulated in Table 1.…”

Behavioral and Somatic Disorders in Children Exposed in Utero to Synthetic Hormones: A Testimony-Case Study in a French Family Troop

“…Behavioral disorders starting in post-adolescence have since been reported in the children exposed in utero to the two mentioned estrogens: depression [16,17], anxiety [17][18][19], schizophrenia [20,21], anorexia and bulimia [22]. These observations were summarized by Pillard et al [17] and Verdoux [21].…”