Self-reported physical health status of donor sperm-conceived adults

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Damian H. Adams ◽  
Adam Gerace ◽  
Michael J. Davies ◽  
Sheryl de Lacey
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Acute Bronchitis ◽  
Sleep Apnoea ◽  
Developmental Origins ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Physical Health Status ◽  
Donor Sperm ◽  
Health And Disease

Abstract Donor-conceived neonates have poorer birth outcomes, including low birth weight and preterm delivery that are associated with poorer long-term health in adulthood through the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) theory. The aim of this study was to conduct the first investigation of the adult health outcomes of donor-conceived people. An online health survey was completed by 272 donor sperm-conceived adults and 877 spontaneously conceived adults from around the world. Donor and spontaneously conceived groups were matched for age, sex, height, smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise, own fertility and maternal smoking. Donor sperm-conceived adults had significantly higher reports of being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (P = 0.031), thyroid disease (P = 0.031), acute bronchitis (P = 0.008), environmental allergies (P = 0.046), sleep apnoea (P = 0.037) and having ear tubes/grommets surgically implanted (P = 0.046). This is the first study to investigate the health outcomes of adult donor sperm-conceived people. Donor sperm-conceived adults self-reported elevated frequencies of various health conditions. The outcomes are consistent with birth defect data from donor sperm treatment and are consistent with the DOHaD linking perturbed early growth and chronic disease in adulthood.

scholarly journals Homage to the ‘H’ in developmental origins of health and disease

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. S. Rosenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Female Offspring ◽  
Postnatal Period ◽  
Environmental Chemicals ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Developmental Origins ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Fetal Origins ◽  
Adult Disease ◽  
Remediation Strategies ◽  
Health And Disease

Abundant evidence exists linking maternal and paternal environments from pericopconception through the postnatal period to later risk to offspring diseases. This concept was first articulated by the late Sir David Barker and as such coined the Barker Hypothesis. The term was then mutated to Fetal Origins of Adult Disease and finally broadened to developmental origins of adult health and disease (DOHaD) in recognition that the perinatal environment can shape both health and disease in resulting offspring. Developmental exposure to various factors, including stress, obesity, caloric-rich diets and environmental chemicals can lead to detrimental offspring health outcomes. However, less attention has been paid to date on measures that parents can take to promote the long-term health of their offspring. In essence, have we neglected to consider the ‘H’ in DOHaD? It is the ‘H’ component that should be of primary concern to expecting mothers and fathers and those seeking to have children. While it may not be possible to eliminate exposure to all pernicious factors, prevention/remediation strategies may tip the scale to health rather than disease. By understanding disruptive DOHaD mechanisms, it may also illuminate behavioral modifications that parents can adapt before fertilization and throughout the neonatal period to promote the lifelong health of their male and female offspring. Three possibilities will be explored in the current review: parental exercise, probiotic supplementation and breastfeeding in the case of mothers. The ‘H’ paradigm should be the focus going forward as a healthy start can indeed last a lifetime.

scholarly journals Invited Commentary: The Disillusionment of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) Epidemiology

2019 ◽  
Vol 189 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen E Gilman ◽  
Mady Hornig
Keyword(s):  
Observational Studies ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Developmental Origins ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Meta Analyses

Abstract The developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) model promises a greater understanding of early development but has left unresolved the balance of risks and benefits to offspring of medication use during pregnancy. Masarwa et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 2018;187(8):1817–1827) conducted a meta-analysis of the association between in utero acetaminophen exposure and risks of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A challenge of meta-analyzing results from observational studies is that summary measures of risk do not correspond to well-defined interventions when the individual studies adjusted for different covariate sets, which was the case here. This challenge limits the usefulness of observational meta-analyses for inferences about etiology and treatment planning. With that limitation understood, Masarwa et al. reported a 20%–30% higher risk of ADHD and ASD following prenatal acetaminophen exposure. Surprisingly, most of the original studies did not report diagnoses of ADHD or ASD. As a result, their summary estimates of risk are not informative about children’s likelihood of ADHD and ASD diagnoses. The long-term promise of DOHaD remains hopeful, but more effort is needed in the short-term to critically evaluate observational studies suggesting risks associated with medications used to treat conditions during pregnancy that might have adverse consequences for a developing fetus.

scholarly journals Health and Disease After Assisted Reproductive Technology

2019 ◽  
Vol 01 (03) ◽  
pp. 122-125
Author(s):  
Cathy Allen
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Breast Disease ◽  
Additional Layer ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
Hormone Sensitive ◽  
Offspring Health

Long-term health outcomes after ART have largely focused on offspring health and perinatal parameters. Longer-term health outcomes in female patients remain difficult to fully assess. Hypothetical concerns about the effects of endocrine manipulation on hormone-sensitive conditions, e.g. breast disease, are confounded by variable factors in patients and treatments. Obstetric and perinatal factors endow an additional layer of complexity to the overall analysis and more research is required to appreciate all aspects of ART. Notwithstanding the knowledge gap, clinicians must endeavour to individualise management plans, taking into account the pros and cons of ART in the context of immediate, maternity-related and long-term health risks for their patients. This review of recent literature examines current ART practice in terms of female health and disease as we strive for best practice in an ever-changing clinical and demographic fertility landscape.

Self-reported mental health status of donor sperm-conceived adults

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Damian H. Adams ◽  
Adam Gerace ◽  
Michael J. Davies ◽  
Sheryl de Lacey
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Attention Deficit Disorder ◽  
Perinatal Outcomes ◽  
Panic Attacks ◽  
Mental Health Outcomes ◽  
Donor Sperm ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Health And Disease

Abstract While donor-conceived children have similar mental health outcomes compared to spontaneously conceived children, there is an inconsistency between studies investigating mental health outcomes of donor-conceived people in adulthood. This study is an online health survey that was completed by 272 donor sperm-conceived adults and 877 spontaneously conceived adults from around the world. Donor sperm-conceived adults had increased diagnoses of attention deficit disorder (P = 0.004), and autism (P = 0.044) in comparison to those conceived spontaneously. Donor sperm-conceived adults self-reported increased incidences of seeing a mental health professional (P < 0.001), identity formation problems (P < 0.001), learning difficulties (P < 0.001), panic attacks (P = 0.038), recurrent nightmares (sperm P = 0.038), and alcohol/drug dependency (P = 0.037). DASS-21 analysis revealed that donor sperm-conceived adults were also more stressed than those conceived spontaneously (P = 0.013). Both donor sperm and spontaneously conceived cohorts were matched for sex, age, height, alcohol consumption, smoking, exercise, own fertility, and maternal smoking. The increase in adverse mental health outcomes is consistent with some studies of donor-conceived adult mental health outcomes. These results are also consistent with the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) phenomenon that has linked adverse perinatal outcomes, which have been observed in donor-conceived neonates, to increased risk of chronic disease, including mental health. Further work is required to reconcile our observations in adults to contrary observations reported in donor-conceived children.

scholarly journals Novel Concepts in the Developmental Origins of Adult Health and Disease

2007 ◽  
Vol 137 (4) ◽  
pp. 1073-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuel Lebenthal ◽  
Dennis M. Bier
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Origins ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Health And Disease

scholarly journals Exploring genetic moderators and epigenetic mediators of contextual and family effects: From Gene × Environment to epigenetics

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (4pt2) ◽  
pp. 1333-1346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven R. H. Beach ◽  
Gene H. Brody ◽  
Allen W. Barton ◽  
Robert A. Philibert
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Genotypic Variation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Family Effects ◽  
Community Environments ◽  
Family Based

AbstractIn the current manuscript, we provide an overview of a research program at the University of Georgia's Center for Family Research designed to expand upon rapid and ongoing developments in the fields of genetics and epigenetics. By placing those developments in the context of translational research on family and community determinants of health and well-being among rural African Americans, we hope to identify novel, modifiable environments and biological processes. In the first section of the article, we review our earlier work on genotypic variation effects on the association between family context and mental and physical health outcomes as well as differential responses to family-based intervention. We then transition to discuss our more recent research on the association of family and community environments with epigenetic processes. In this second section of the article, we begin by briefly reviewing terminology and basic considerations before describing evidence that early environments may influence epigenetic motifs that potentially serve as mediators of long-term effects of early family and community environments on longer term health outcomes. We also provide evidence that genotype may sometimes influence epigenetic outcomes. Finally, we describe our recent efforts to use genome-wide characterization of epigenetic patterns to better understand the biological impact of protective parenting on long-term shifts in inflammatory processes and its potential implications for young adult health. As will be clear, research on epigenetics as a mediator of the connections between family/community processes and a range of health outcomes is still in its infancy, but the potential to develop important insights regarding mechanisms linking modifiable environments to biological processes and long-term health outcomes already is coming into view.

scholarly journals Developmental Origins of Adult Health and Disease: The Role of Periconceptional and Foetal Nutrition

2008 ◽  
Vol 102 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Caroline McMillen ◽  
Severence M. MacLaughlin ◽  
Beverly S. Muhlhausler ◽  
Sheridan Gentili ◽  
Jaime L. Duffield ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Origins ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Health And Disease

scholarly journals Maternal vitamin D deficiency and developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD)

2019 ◽  
Vol 241 (2) ◽  
pp. R65-R80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Folami Y Ideraabdullah ◽  
Anthony M Belenchia ◽  
Cheryl S Rosenfeld ◽  
Seth W Kullman ◽  
Megan Knuth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vitamin D ◽  
Vitamin D Deficiency ◽  
Later Life ◽  
The Body ◽  
Fetal Life ◽  
Developmental Origins ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Cardiometabolic Disorders ◽  
Health And Disease

Vitamin D is an essential nutrient that is metabolized in the body to generate an active metabolite (1,25(OH)2D) with hormone-like activity and highly diverse roles in cellular function. Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is a prevalent but easily preventable nutritional disturbance. Emerging evidence demonstrates the importance of sufficient vitamin D concentrations during fetal life with deficiencies leading to long-term effects into adulthood. Here, we provide a detailed review and perspective of evidence for the role of maternal VDD in offspring long-term health, particularly as it relates to developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD). We focus on the roles in neurobehavioral and cardiometabolic disorders in humans and highlight recent findings from zebrafish and rodent models that probe potential mechanisms linking early life VDD to later life health outcomes. Moreover, we explore evidence implicating epigenetic mechanisms as a mediator of this link. Gaps in our current understanding of how maternal VDD might result in deleterious offspring outcomes later in life are also addressed.

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