In Utero Estrogen - DES - Linked to 40% Increased Risk for Breast Cancer

Washington, DCResults from a study released in this week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) show a causal association between diethylstilbestrol (DES) and health problems including cancer.

The retrospective review, by Palmer et al, found that on long-term follow-up of approximately 4,600 women over the age of 40, women who were exposed to DES during pregnancy, there was a 40 percent increased risk for breast cancer among their daughters, an almost four times greater risk for a second trimester miscarriage, and an almost four times greater risk for ectopic pregnancy.

According to a report on National Public Radio (NPR), one of the study's authors, Dr. Robert Hoover of the National Cancer Institute, stated that the harm of prenatal DES exposure might not have been exposed but for the fact that there was such a never-before-seen cancer rate in adolescent offspring of women who took DES during pregnancy.