Children born to women who smoke and have a high intake of caffeine during pregnancy are more likely to have undescended testes at age 2 years.   Though previous studies have associated several problems to maternal smoking, according to a recent study, high caffeine intake and smoking in pregnant women has been found to result in their son's risk of persistent cryptorchidism. The testes in male babies usually move from the pelvis into the scrotum shortly before birth, but sometimes this doesn't happen. The condition is termed cryptorchidism. Persistant cryptorchidism is defined as one or two undescended testicles at birth persisting to at least age 2 years.   To test the occurrence of cryptochidism in sons born to women who smoke, researchers at the Center for Research on Women's and Children's Health in Berkeley, California studied the association between persistent cryptorchidism and maternal smoking, alcohol consumption, or caffeine consumption in 7574 male infants and there mothers.   The results showed that persistant cryptochidism was found in 101 infants. It was found that maternal smoking and high intake of caffeine during pregnancy increased the risk of mothers giving birth to sons with undescended testes.   The study advises that pregnant women should avoid smoking and high intake of caffeine to prevent problems like persistant cryptochidism in their male babies.
American Journal of Epidemiology,
February 2008