Grandmaternal Diethylstilbesterol and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children

To the Editor I read with interest the article “Association of Exposure to Diethylstilbestrol During Pregnancy With Multigenerational Neurodevelopmental Deficits” by Kioumourtzoglou et al, published inJAMA Pediatrics. Using a valuable cohort of 47 450 women in the Nurses' Health Study II, the authors found that exposure to the potent synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol during pregnancy was associated with increased risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the grandchildren. They reasonably conclude that “diethylstilbestrol exposure is associated with multigenerational neurodevelopmental deficits.” This result is a valuable contribution to the literature on etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders, adding further evidence for the role of endocrine-disrupting chemicals as risk factors for ADHD. T he etiology of ADHD is complex, involving a combination of genetic as well as environmental risk factors. Heritability for ADHD has been estimated as 70% to 80%. The genetics basis of ADHD is partly owing to many variants of individual low effect scattered along the genome.
Source: JAMA Pediatrics - Category: Pediatrics Source Type: research