Evaluation of Risk Factors for Reproductive Significant Disorders in Children and Adolescent: a Case-Control Study results

Abstract

High incidence of endocrine and uroandrologic disorders among children and adolescents results in negative reproductive potential in the future. These disorders include obesity, diabetes, thyroid disease (autoimmune thyroiditis, hypothyroidism), delayed puberty, cryptorchidism and varicocele. Despite a wide variety of studies on the problem of infertility, information about risk factors of reproductively significant pathology is currently of limited. Purpose. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the risk factors for reproductively significant endocrine and uroandrologic diseases in children and adolescents in St. Petersburg. Materials and methods. A questionnaire survey of 1 456 parents of children and adolescents was conducted during the period from 2015 to 2017. Results and discussion. It was found that a history of rubella was associated with diabetes mellitus in girls (OR 2.7, CI 1.3–5.5). Risk factors related to the parents’ health were thyroid pathology (2.7; 1.3-5.5), obesity (8.4; 2.5–27.7), varicose veins of mother (5.0; 1.8–14.0), cardiovascular diseases of father (28.7; 3.4–237.6). Insulin-independent diabetes mellitus of close relatives (grandparents) was associated with obesity (3.5; 1.8–6.8) and type 1 diabetes mellitus (6.8; 3.8–12.7) in boys. Toxicosis (2.5; 1.4–4.6), risk of pregnancy termination (2.8; 1.4–5.8), bleeding (5.1; 3.2–1.9), miscarriages (3.3; 1.2–8.9), birth of children less than 2 years apart (2.7; 1.1–6.9), birth weight less than 2 kg (5.7; 1.2–26.5) or more than 4 kg (5.1; 2.1–12.4) were found to be risk factors for reproductive significant diseases. There was a relationship between artificial nutrition and obesity in the group of boys (6.5; 2.2–19.0). The study also revealed that smoking (3.4; 1.6–7.3) and alcohol (2.1; 1.2-3.8) were risk factors. The use of diapers older than 1 year was a risk factor for cryptorchidism and varicocele (2.8; 1.4–5.6).

Keywords

• reproductive important disorder
• reproductive risk
• children's diseases
• children's health