Authors:
Keelan, J. A.; Mattes, E.; Tan, H.; Dinan, A.; Newnham, J. P.; Whitehouse, A. J. O.; Jacoby, P.; Hickey, M.
Authors notes:
PLoS ONE. 2012;7(8):e42827.1-10
Keywords:
umbilical blood androgen concentrations, birth cohort, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)
Abstract
The aim of this study was to measure umbilical blood androgen concentrations in a birth cohort using a highly specific liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assay and assesses the effects of sex, labor, and gestational age on fetal androgen levels at birth.
We performed a prospective cohort study of androgen concentrations in mixed arterial and venous umbilical cord serum from 803 unselected singleton pregnancies from a general obstetric population in Western Australia.
Our findings suggest that previous studies have over-estimated cord androgen levels, and that fetal, maternal, and obstetric factors influence cord androgen levels differentially. Caution should be exercised when interpreting previously-published data that have not taken all of these factors into account.