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Case– C ontrol Study of Maternal Residential Atrazine Exposure and Male Genital Malformations
Author(s) -
Agopian A.J.,
Lupo Philip J.,
Canfield Mark A.,
Langlois Peter H.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
american journal of medical genetics part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.064
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1552-4833
pISSN - 1552-4825
DOI - 10.1002/ajmg.a.35815
Subject(s) - atrazine , hypospadias , sex organ , odds ratio , anogenital distance , offspring , confidence interval , medicine , physiology , teratology , pregnancy , biology , fetus , pesticide , surgery , genetics , agronomy , in utero
Exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals has been associated with risk for male genital malformations. However, residential prenatal exposure to atrazine, an endocrine disrupting pesticide, has not been evaluated. We obtained data from the Texas Birth Defects Registry for 16,433 cases with isolated male genital malformations and randomly selected, population‐based controls delivered during 1999–2008. County‐level estimates of atrazine exposure from the United States Geological Survey were linked to all subjects. We evaluated the relationship between estimated maternal residential atrazine exposure and risk for male genital malformations in offspring. Separate unconditional logistic regression analyses were conducted for hypospadias, cryptorchidism, and small penis. We observed modest, but consistent, associations between medium‐low and/or medium levels of estimated periconceptional maternal residential atrazine exposure and every male genital malformation category evaluated (e.g., adjusted odds ratio for medium compared to low atrazine levels and all male genital malformations: 1.2, 95% confidence interval: 1.1–1.3). Previous literature from animal and epidemiological studies supports our findings. Our results provide further evidence of a suspected teratogenic role of atrazine. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.