Births and perinatal health of infants among women who have had silicone breast implantation in Finland, 1967-2000.

BACKGROUND

Potential problems with breast implants have been widely discussed, but few data exist on the childbearing and offspring of women with implants. The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrence and conditions of pregnancies of women who have had cosmetic breast implantation (exposed women), and the health of their newborns.

METHODS

Women who had breast implants for cosmetic reasons in the period 1967-1999 (n = 2236) were identified from hospital surgical records. The births of the exposed women were identified through record linkage to the Population Register. The perinatal health of the infants was studied by the data in the Medical Birth Register in 1987-1999. For each birth to an exposed woman, 20 control mothers who gave birth in the same year were chosen randomly from the Medical Birth Register. Differences in mothers' background characteristics were adjusted by logistic regression.

RESULTS

The women had received their first cosmetic breast implants at young ages (mean 31 years). By year 2000, 26% of the exposed women had one or more children. Half of these women had not had a liveborn child before getting implants. Of the 1661 exposed women who had not (yet) had children, 32% were less than 35 years of age at the end of follow-up. The women had children at a mean of 4.7 years after the implants. Some of the perinatal health indicators suggested poorer health and others better health for infants of exposed women, but only transfers to other hospitals and lower birthweight among infants of exposed multipara were statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

The study shows that pregnancy and infant health are relevant considerations with regard to breast implants; further studies on implants are needed.