Associations of endocrine disrupting chemicals with anogenital distance across infancy
Authors' conclusion
AGD in mini-puberty and growth across infancy may reflect EDC-mediated hormonal disruption in utero, particularly in females, supporting the need to investigate these markers as predictors of long-term reproductive health.
Study context
- Population
- Pregnant women and their infants, I-KIDS (Illinois Kids Development Study), 2 OBGyn clinics in Champaign-Urbana, IL, 2013–2019; 10 phthalates/replacements and 9 phenols in 5 pooled first-morning urine samples across pregnancy
- Participants
- 563 mother/infant pairs
- Exposure
- Per-quartile increase in maternal phthalate/replacement or phenol mixture
- Outcome
- Anogenital index (AGI: short and long anogenital distance (AGD) divided by body length) and %AGI growth across infancy
- Follow-up
- Birth and 5 months (mini-puberty)
Methodological detailsobservational longitudinal study, quantile g-computation, hierarchical Bayesian kernel machine regression, covariate-adjusted
- Observational longitudinal study
- Quantile g-computation
- Hierarchical Bayesian kernel machine regression
- Covariate-adjusted
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
AGI in 5-month-old females per quartile increase in phthalate/replacement mixture · 5 months
AGIShort
−4.13 mm/m
95% CI −7.22, −1.05
AGILong
−3.89 mm/m
95% CI −7.55, −0.23
AGIShort growth
−39.49%
95% CI −62.44, −16.54
AGILong growth (95% CI −16.06, −1.51); strongest at lower mixture quantiles
−8.78%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Newborn AGI: phthalates/replacements in females, phenols in males · birth
- Associations were inconsistent
Original publication
Associations of endocrine disrupting chemicals with anogenital distance across infancy. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. Published 26 March 2026. doi:10.
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