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Pregnancy weight gain is not associated with maternal or mixed umbilical cord estrogen and androgen concentrations

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Abstract

The association of maternal weight gain with serum hormone concentrations was explored in 75 women who had healthy, singleton pregnancies. Estradiol, estriol, estrone, androstenedione, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and DHEA sulfate concentrations were measured both in maternal and mixed umbilical cord serum to assess hormone levels in both the maternal and fetal circulation at delivery. Our data show no association of maternal or cord steroid hormone concentrations with pregnancy weight gain. Increased exposure to steroid hormones, especially estrogens, during pregnancy has been hypothesized to play a role in subsequent breast cancer risk for both mother and female offspring. Our results are not consistent with an effect of pregnancy weight gain being mediated by this pathway as reflected by hormone concentrations at the end of pregnancy.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program, the Division of Cancer Prevention, the Intramural Research Program of the Center for Cancer Research, and the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, NIH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program, Division of Cancer Prevention and Mammary Biology and Tumorigenesis Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, EPS, T-41, MSC 7105, Bethesda, MD, 20892-7105, USA

    Jessica M. Faupel-Badger

  2. Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Robert N. Hoover

  3. Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Nancy Potischman

  4. Magee-Womens Research Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    James M. Roberts

  5. Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    James M. Roberts

  6. Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    James M. Roberts

  7. Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Rebecca Troisi

  8. Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA

    Rebecca Troisi

Authors
  1. Jessica M. Faupel-Badger
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  2. Robert N. Hoover
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  3. Nancy Potischman
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  4. James M. Roberts
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  5. Rebecca Troisi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jessica M. Faupel-Badger.

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The US Government’s right to retain a non-exclusive, royalty free license in and to any copyright is acknowledged.

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Faupel-Badger, J.M., Hoover, R.N., Potischman, N. et al. Pregnancy weight gain is not associated with maternal or mixed umbilical cord estrogen and androgen concentrations. Cancer Causes Control 20, 263–267 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-008-9235-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-008-9235-5

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