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Idiopathic male pseudohermaphroditism is associated with prenatal growth retardation

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Abstract

About 50% of intersex cases are due to male pseudohermaphroditism, and of these cases, 50% are not clarified aetiologically. The association of idiopathic male pseudohermaphroditism and prenatal growth retardation has been recently reported. The aim of this study was to verify whether there was a difference in weight and/or length at birth between idiopathic and non-idiopathic male pseudohermaphroditism patients. A total of 70 patients with male pseudohermaphroditism were recruited; 35 non-idiopathic and 35 idiopathic. Birth weight and length were converted to z scores, and the severity of genital ambiguity was classified according to Prader grades: less virilised (Prader 1 to 3) and more virilised (Prader 4 or 5). Data were analysed using a Mann-Whitney test, odds ratio and logistic regression analysis. Birth weight ( P =0.028) and length ( P =0.01) z scores were lower in the idiopathic male pseudohermaphroditism group compared to the non-idiopathic group and were also significantly decreased among the less virilised patients, both in the sample as a whole (weight z score, P =0.002; length z score, P =0.0008) and in the group of idiopathic patients (weight z score, P =0.013; length z score, P =0.007). According to logistic regression analysis, only birth length z score significantly predicted the severity of the genital ambiguity in patients with idiopathic male pseudohermaphroditism ( P =0.0007). Conclusion:There is an association between prenatal growth retardation and male pseudohermaphroditism which may be due to genetic factors not clarified yet or to environmental factors which act early in gestation.

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Abbreviations

CI :

confidence interval

MPH :

male pseudohermaphroditism

OR :

odds ratio

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Acknowledgement

Dr. de Andrade Machado Neto was supported by CNPq with a scholarship from August 2001 to July 2003.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Paediatrics, School of Medicine (UNICAMP), 13083-970, Campinas-SP , Brazil

    Francisco de Andrade Machado Neto, André Moreno Morcillo & Gil Guerra-Junior

  2. Department of Clinical Genetics, UNICAMP, Sao-Paolo, Brazil

    Andrea Trevas Maciel-Guerra

Authors
  1. Francisco de Andrade Machado Neto
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  2. André Moreno Morcillo
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  3. Andrea Trevas Maciel-Guerra
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  4. Gil Guerra-Junior
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Correspondence to Gil Guerra-Junior.

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de Andrade Machado Neto, F., Moreno Morcillo, A., Trevas Maciel-Guerra, A. et al. Idiopathic male pseudohermaphroditism is associated with prenatal growth retardation. Eur J Pediatr 164, 287–291 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-005-1626-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-005-1626-y

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