Prenatal Diethylstilbestrol Exposure and Risk of Obesity in Adult Women.
Some studies in animals suggest that prenatal DES exposure is linked to obesity and to abnormal metabolism of glucose. Using data from the National Cancer Institute DES Follow-Up Study
Prenatal Diethylstilbestrol Exposure and Risk of Obesity in Adult Women.
Some studies in animals suggest that prenatal DES exposure is linked to obesity and to abnormal metabolism of glucose. Using data from the National Cancer Institute DES Follow-Up Study, we evaluated the association between prenatal DES exposure and adult obesity. To do this, we looked at factors like weight gain, body mass index (BMI – a measure of body fatness) and waist circumference among 2,871 women exposed to DES before their birth and also among 1,352 who were not exposed to DES.
We conducted statistical analyses to see if exposed women had a higher risk of being obese, and whether there were differences between exposed and unexposed women in BMI, weight gain, waist circumference and height. Other factors possibly related to obesity such as age, educational level and whether the woman smoked, were accounted for in the analysis. We also considered whether 