Selected testosterone-related diseases in women who have given birth to a child with infantile autism.

AIM: The objective of the current study was to compare the prevalence of three testosterone-related cancer diseases in the mothers of 111 individuals diagnosed as children with infantile autism (IA) with a matched comparison group of mothers of 330 children from the general population. METHOD: All mothers were screened through the nationwide Danish National Hospital Register. We inquired about breast-, uterine-, and ovarian cancer diseases during an observation period of 27 years. RESULTS: At follow up a similar proportion of case and control mothers had a diagnosis of any cancer disease: 6.3% vs 8.5%. In addition, no single cancer disease was significantly more frequent among mothers of children with IA. CONCLUSION: Our study provides no support for an (eventually androgen-mediated) increased rate of cancer in mothers of persons with IA.