3 ms·

What is a ‘DES baby’ ?

• Gibbon1 4y ago
  > Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is a synthetic form of the female hormone estrogen. It was prescribed to pregnant women between 1940 and 1971 to prevent miscarriage, premature labor, and related complications of pregnancy https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/hormones/des-fact-sheet https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/h...
  • emmelaich 4y ago
    Amazing that I've never heard of this!
    • Gibbon1 4y ago
      What I understand is in the 1950's there was a theory that women would miscarry because of a lack of estrogen. So women who had had miscarriages would be given DES when pregnant. By the 1960's I think there was a realization that a) didn't work. b) miscarriages are often due to issues with the fetus. c) Common. So use was stopped 50 years ago. And mostly stopped 10 years before that. Was a commonly discussed thing in the 1970's and 80's. But less after that.