Maternal smoking, alcohol, and coffee use during pregnancy and son's risk of testicular cancer.

It has been suggested that increased risk for testicular cancer occurring worldwide may be due to exposures during fetal development. Lifestyle or environmental exposures may be the most important predictors of risk. However, few studies have directly examined these exposures prospectively. The Child Health and Development Studies is a 40-year follow-up of 20,530 pregnancies occurring between 1959 and 1967. There were 20 cases of testicular cancer diagnosed through 2003 among sons with a maternal interview in early pregnancy. Cases were matched to three controls on birth year and race. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated with exact conditional logistic regression. Compared to controls, mothers of testicular cancer cases were more likely to drink alcohol (unadjusted odds ratio, 3.2; 95% confidence interval, 0.83-15.48 for above vs. below the median for controls) and less likely to drink coffee (unadjusted odds ratio, 0.19; 95% confidence interval, 0.02-1.02 for above vs. below the median). Case mothers were neither more nor less likely to smoke. Although low power may limit interpretation of negative results, the prospective design minimizes bias. In this cohort, maternal serum testosterone in pregnancy was previously reported to be lower in women who drank alcohol. Because populations with high testicular cancer risk also have lower maternal testosterone, we suggest that testosterone could play a role in explaining the higher risk of son's testicular cancer among mothers who drank alcohol during pregnancy.

Maternal smoking, alcohol consumption, and caffeine consumption during pregnancy in relation to a son's risk of persistent cryptorchidism: a prospective study in the Child Health and Development Studies cohort, 1959-1967.

The Child Health and Development Studies is a > or =40-year follow-up of 20,754 pregnancies occurring between 1959 and 1967 in California. There were 84 cases of undescended testes at birth persisting to at least age 2 years among 7,574 liveborn sons whose mothers were interviewed in early pregnancy. Cases were matched to three controls on birth year and race. Compared with mothers of controls, mothers of cryptorchid boys consumed more caffeine during pregnancy (odds ratio = 1.4, 95% confidence interval: 1.1, 1.9 for an interquartile range equivalent to three cups of coffee per day) but were not more likely to smoke or drink alcohol when all behaviors were considered together. Other maternal and perinatal risk factors were not significantly associated with persistent cryptorchidism and did not confound the association with caffeine.

Alcohol consumption and serum hormone levels during pregnancy.

Factors that change sex hormone levels during pregnancy may have long-term health consequences for the offspring, including changes in breast cancer risk. A cross-sectional analysis of alcohol consumption and hormone levels in 339 pregnant women sampled from the Child Health and Development Study cohort was undertaken. Alcohol intake was queried from 1959 to 1966, long before any hazards of drinking during pregnancy were publicized. Third trimester serum hormone levels including estradiol and testosterone were analyzed. Among 339 pregnant women, 196 reported some alcohol consumption during pregnancy. The drinkers were divided into three groups with intake levels of 0.2-0.5, 0.6-2.0, and 2.1-12.5 ounces of ethanol per week. The second group corresponds to a median intake of approximately 2 drinks per week, and the last group corresponds to a median intake of approximately 1 drink per day, which is considered "light" to "moderate" drinking. Maternal estradiol levels were not associated with alcohol intake during pregnancy. However, serum testosterone was significantly lower, by 12.2%, in the latter two groups of drinking pregnant women, [confidence interval (CI)=-3.0 to 25.2] and 25.6% (CI=9.2-39.5), respectively. The alcohol intakes reported are far below those shown to cause fetal alcohol syndrome, or any of the fetal alcohol effects so far studied. Light alcohol intake during pregnancy is associated with lower maternal testosterone. The health implications are uncertain, but may include an increased breast density in the daughters of drinking mothers.

Risk factors for incident self-reported arthritis in a 20 year followup of the Alameda County Study Cohort.

OBJECTIVE: This longitudinal study examined the following variables as possible risk factors for self-reported arthritis: age, sex, race, body mass index (BMI), depressive symptoms, leisure-time physical activity, cigarette use, alcohol, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, education, income, and hard physical work. METHODS: Altogether, 1149 women and 964 men from the Alameda County Study Cohort without self-reported arthritis in 1974 were assessed for incident self-reported arthritis in 1994. RESULTS: In a multivariate model, the following variables were associated with increased odds of incident arthritis: increasing age (age 45-49, odds ratio 2.00, 95% confidence interval 1.40-2.85; age 50+, OR 3.13, 95% CI 2.32-4.22), BMI for women only (4th quintile, OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.05-2.60; 5th quintile, OR 1.88, 95% CI 1.19-2.95), female sex (OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.20-1.83), and >/= 5 depressive symptoms (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.12-2.10). Leisure-time physical activity in the highest quartile was protective (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.51-0.95). All other factors were not associated with arthritis. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that depressive symptoms, as well as age, sex, and BMI, are independent risk factors for arthritis. This is the first longitudinal population based study to examine and establish that prior depressive symptoms are a risk factor for arthritis.

DDT and DDE exposure in mothers and time to pregnancy in daughters.

Reproductive-tract anomalies after administration of the potent oestrogen, diethylstilboestrol, in pregnant women raised concerns about the reproductive effects of exposure to weakly oestrogenic environmental contaminants such as bis[4-chlorophenyl]-1,1,1-trichloroethane (p,p'-DDT) or its metabolites, such as bis[4-chlorophenyl]-1,1-dichloroethene (p,p'-DDE). We measured p,p'-DDT and p,p'-DDE in preserved maternal serum samples drawn 1-3 days after delivery between 1960 and 1963. We recorded time to pregnancy in 289 eldest daughters 28-31 years later. Daughters' probability of pregnancy fell by 32% per 10 microg/L p,p'-DDT in maternal serum (95% CI 11-48). By contrast, the probability of pregnancy increased 16% per 10 microg/L p,p'-DDE (6-27). The decreased fecundability associated with prenatal p,p'-DDT remains unexplained. We speculate that the antiandrogenic activity of p,p'-DDE may mitigate harmful androgen effects on the ovary during gestation or early life.

Successful aging and well-being: self-rated compared with Rowe and Kahn.

PURPOSE: This research evaluates the utility of two different definitions of successful aging in predicting well-being. DESIGN AND METHODS: We assessed the definitions of (a) self-rating and (b) Rowe and Kahn's criteria of absence of disease, disability, and risk factors; maintaining physical and mental functioning; and active engagement with life. We made associations with well-being for each definition using data from 867 Alameda County Study participants aged 65-99 years. RESULTS: The percentage of those rating themselves as aging successfully was 50.3% compared with 18.8% classified according to Rowe and Kahn's criteria. Although absence of chronic conditions and maintaining functioning were positively associated with successful aging for both definitions, many participants with chronic conditions and with functional difficulties still rated themselves as aging successfully; none were so classified according to Rowe and Kahn's criteria. On 14 of 15 measures, self-rated successful aging resulted in sharper contrasts for well-being. IMPLICATIONS: Understanding criteria used by older persons to assess their own successful aging should enhance the conceptualization and measurement of this elusive concept.

Religious attendance and cause of death over 31 years.

OBJECTIVE: Frequent attendance at religious services has been reported by several studies to be independently associated with lower all-cause mortality. The present study aimed to clarify relationships between religious attendance and mortality by examining how associations of religious attendance with several specific causes of death may be explained by demographics, socioeconomic status, health status, health behaviors, and social connections. METHOD: Associations between frequent religious attendance and major types of cause-specific mortality between 1965 and 1996 were examined for 6545 residents of Alameda County, California. Sequential proportional hazards regressions were used to study survival time until mortality from circulatory, cancer, digestive, respiratory, or external causes. RESULTS: After adjusting for age and sex, infrequent (never or less than weekly) attenders had significantly higher rates of circulatory, cancer, digestive, and respiratory mortality (p < 0.05), but not mortality due to external causes. Differences in cancer mortality were explained by prior health status. Associations with other outcomes were weakened but not eliminated by including health behaviors and prior health status. In fully adjusted models, infrequent attenders had significantly or marginally significantly higher rates of death from circulatory (relative hazard [RH] = 1.21, 95 percent confidence interval [CI] = 1.02 to 1.45), digestive (RH = 1.99, p < 0.10, 95 percent CI = 0.98 to 4.03), and respiratory (RH = 1.66, p < 0.10, 95 percent CI = 0.92 to 3.02) mortality. CONCLUSIONS: These results are consistent with the view that religious involvement, like high socioeconomic status, is a general protective factor that promotes health through a variety of causal pathways. Further study is needed to determine whether the independent effects of religion are mediated by psychological states or other unknown factors.