Associations of maternal and umbilical cord hormone concentrations with maternal, gestational and neonatal factors (United States).

OBJECTIVE

Risks of some cancers in adults have been associated with several pregnancy factors, including greater maternal age and birth weight. For hormone-related cancers, these effects are hypothesized to be mediated through higher in utero estrogen concentrations. In addition, racial differences in pregnancy hormone levels have been suggested as being responsible for differences in testicular and prostate cancer risk by race. However, data on hormonal levels related to these characteristics of pregnancy are sparse, particularly those from studies of the fetal circulation.

METHODS

Estrogen and androgen concentrations were measured in maternal and umbilical cord sera from 86 normal, singleton pregnancies.

RESULTS

Birth size measures (weight, length and head circumference) were positively correlated with maternal estriol (r = 0.25-0.36) and with cord DHEAS concentrations (r = 0.24-0.41), but not with estrogens in cord sera. Maternal age was inversely correlated with maternal DHEAS, androstenedione and testosterone concentrations (r = -0.30, -0.25 and -0.30, respectively), but uncorrelated with estrogens in either the maternal or cord circulation. Black mothers had higher androstenedione and testosterone concentrations than white mothers, however, there were no racial differences in any of the androgens in cord sera. Cord testosterone concentrations were higher in mothers of male fetuses, while both maternal and cord concentrations of estriol were lower in these pregnancies.

CONCLUSIONS

These data demonstrate associations between hormone concentrations and pregnancy factors associated with offspring's cancer risk, however, the hormones involved and their patterns of association differ by whether the maternal or fetal circulation was sampled. Hormone concentrations in the fetal circulation in this study are not consistent with the hypothesis that greater estrogen concentrations in high birth weight babies mediate the positive association with breast cancer risk observed in epidemiologic studies, or with the hypothesis that higher testosterone exposure in the in utero environment of black males explains their higher subsequent prostate cancer risk.