Recent News and Articles on the Keywords: des + daughters + risk  Related to the article below (Last Update: 8/5/2008)

Connie Little says daughter Marissa was "always trying to save the ... Boone News Republican, IA - Jul 31, 2008 According to Wooden, today's youth possess a low perception of risk associated with alcohol use. "For teenagers especially, they don't think anything can ... Murrieta Valley's Craig going for gold in taekwondo in Olympics Press-Enterprise, CA - Aug 3, 2008 "We knew she had the potential, but it caught us by surprise," said Jim Craig, who will be in Beijing with his wife to watch their daughter for the first ... Stopping Early Births WHO-TV, IA - Jul 22, 2008 Now Des Moines hospitals are saying no to most early deliveries. Tracey Dennis introduces her new daughter Piper as, "Number four in our house, third girl. ... Sydney Morning Herald 'It's not really a career, more like a series of identity crises' Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - Jul 25, 2008 Marceau has two children: a son, Vincent, born in 1995 to her then husband, the film producer Andrzej Zulawski, and a daughter, Juliette, born in 2002 to ... Child's play, unplugged DesMoinesRegister.com, IA - Jul 29, 2008 She is shopping in West Des Moines with daughter Laura Bandy, 37, who grew up playing outdoors in rural Iowa, and her granddaughters, Sierra, 17, and Aspen, ... Man, please Connect Savannah.com, GA - Jul 15, 2008 (2) Robert Cisero, 46, was arrested in Medford, Ore., in June after (according to police) he hit his teenage daughter in the ankle with a hammer to feign a ... Environment Becomes Heredity Miller-McCune.com, CA - Jul 17, 2008 By the early 1970s, it was evident that, after puberty, many daughters of these women, exposed to DES in the womb, contracted a vaginal cancer called clear ... Chicago Daily Herald Time to preserve digital memories Chicago Daily Herald, IL - Jul 12, 2008 And that e-mail you received from your son or daughter serving overseas also can make the rounds to family and friends. But will that photo or document be ... Iowa briefs Dubuque Telegraph Herald, IA - Jul 10, 2008 Blanchard is accused of shaking his daughter on Feb. 5. She was taken to the hospital, and died several days later. DES MOINES -- Sen. ... Fergus Falls Daily Journal Early fences and herd boys part of history Fergus Falls Daily Journal, MN - Jul 26, 2008 His wife, Bertha (Nelson) Barke is to the far left with sons Arthur and Ralph between them and their daughter Josephine is standing by the front gate. ...

'DES Daughters' Face Higher Breast-Cancer Risk

TUESDAY, Aug. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Women whose mothers took DES, a synthetic estrogen, while pregnant have nearly double the risk of breast cancer.

That's the main finding of a study published in the August issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention that compared women exposed to DES in utero to a group of comparably aged women who weren't exposed to the excess hormone levels.

"Women who were exposed to DES have been wondering about this for a long time," said the study's lead author, Julie Palmer, a professor of epidemiology at Boston University's School of Public Health. "We found the risk of breast cancer was about two times as high in the exposed women compared to unexposed women among those 40 years and older."

Diethylstilbestrol (DES) was prescribed from 1938 through 1971 to prevent miscarriage and other pregnancy complications. During that time, as many as 10 million American women took DES during pregnancy, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates.

Although research published in 1953 refuted the notion that DES could prevent the loss of pregnancy or pregnancy difficulties, doctors still continued to prescribe the drug. In 1971, the U.S Food and Drug Administration advised doctors to stop prescribing DES because it was linked to a rare form of vaginal and cervical cancer -- clear cell adenocarcinoma -- in daughters of women who took DES while pregnant. These women eventually came to be known collectively as "DES daughters," according to the CDC.

Besides the increased risk of clear cell adenocarcinoma, being a "DES daughter" also increases your risk of reproductive tract defects, such as a T-shaped uterus, infertility and pregnancy complications, such as ectopic pregnancy or pre-term birth, according to the CDC. Boys born to mothers who took DES may experience abnormal, though non-cancerous, growths on their testicles.

Previous research had suggested that prenatal hormone levels of DES may affect the risk of breast cancer later in life. And women who took DES have higher rates of breast cancer. So, the researchers behind the new study wanted to assess what the actual risk of breast cancer was for women exposed to DES in utero.

They recruited 4,817 women who had been exposed to DES in utero and 2,073 women born in the same time period, but who had not been exposed to the drug. The bulk of the women in both groups were born in the 1950s, and nearly all were white.

During 2001 to 2003, the women were sent questionnaires, and 102 women -- 76 in the DES-exposed group and 26 in the control group -- reported a diagnosis of breast cancer.

After compensating for other breast-cancer risk factors, the researchers found that women who were exposed to DES in utero had a 91 percent higher risk of breast cancer after age 40, and a three-fold increased risk of breast cancer after age 50, when compared to women not exposed to the drug.

"These women received a much higher exposure to synthetic estrogen than would normally be there during a regular pregnancy," said Palmer, who theorized that the extra estrogen spurs the development of additional breast stem cells, and because there are a greater number of breast stem cells, there's an increased risk of cancer.

Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of hematology and oncology at the Ochsner Health System in Baton Rouge, La., said, "This is an interesting study that shows we still don't know all of the long-term effects on women who took DES and their female offspring."

"This is important, but should be kept in perspective," he added. "While it is an increased risk, it's along the same order of escalation of risk as having a family history of breast cancer or of not having a child by the age of 30."

Brooks said if women -- all women, whether exposed to DES or not -- wanted to decrease their risk of breast cancer, they should maintain a normal weight, or lose excess weight.

Palmer added that some research has shown that regular physical activity may be helpful in reducing your risk of breast cancer. Women who know they were exposed to DES in utero should carefully discuss the use of post-menopausal hormones with their doctor, she suggested. Palmer also noted that all women should have regular mammogram screenings to detect breast cancer in its earliest stages.

Depending on what additional risk factors a women exposed to DES may have, Brooks said women might want to discuss the potential risks and benefits of using the medications tamoxifen or raloxifene, because these drugs block the action of estrogen, which can fuel some breast tumors.

More information

To learn more about the known health effects for DES daughters, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.