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Analgesia use during pregnancy and risk of cryptorchidism: a systematic review and meta-analysis

J. Gurney, L. Richiardi, K. McGlynn, V. Signal, D. Sarfati

Human Reproduction, 2017

31 citations

Abstract

Study question Are boys who are born to mothers who use analgesics during pregnancy at increased risk of cryptorchidism compared to those born to mothers who do not take analgesia? Summary answer In this systematic review and meta-analysis of 10 published studies, we observed only weak evidence of an association between analgesia use during pregnancy and risk of cryptorchidism in the son. What is known already Concentrations of analgesia relevant to human exposure have been implicated as causing endocrine disturbances in the developing foetal testis. However, when viewed collectively there appears to be conflicting evidence regarding an association between maternal use of analgesics and development of cryptorchidism. Study design, size, duration A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on analgesia use during pregnancy and risk of cryptorchidism was performed. The search terms used were (analges* OR paracetamol OR acetaminophen) AND (cryptorchidism OR cryptorchism OR undescended test* OR non-descended test* OR non descended test*) for the databases Ovid Medline, Embase, Scopus and Web of Science. The search included all published articles up until 23rd May 2016 and no limits were set in terms of language. Participants/materials, setting, methods Abstracts were screened by one reviewer to remove irrelevant studies, with a 10% random sample of these verified by a second reviewer. The full text of all remaining papers was obtained and assessed by two reviewers to…

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