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International audience; Hormones were largely used for undescended testis (UDT) during the 1900s. However, in the early 2000s the Nordic consensus no longer recommended hormonal treatment and instead advocated surgery as first line management of UDT.1 Based on 3 meta-analyses of randomized trials, the Nordic group found that human chorionic gonadotropin and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) provided poor results and were associated with frequent testis reascension to a suprascrotal position. Some studies also raised suspicion about possible side effects such as temporary inflammatory changes in the testes, germ cell apoptosis and reduction in the number of germ cells in adulthood, especially when the treatment was given in children 1 to 3 years old.2 The American Urological Association3 and the Canadian Urological Association4 did not recommend hormonal therapy. Most guidelines subsequently focused on the timing of surgery, recommending that it be performed before age 1 year as the best way to preserve fertility in these children, although there is no guarantee of normal fertility later in life.5 Thus, hormonal treatment has been ignored for more than 15 years and has been overlooked by pediatric urologists.

Evidence of the benefits of screening for breast cancer using mammography after the age of 50 is considered sufficient. Information on the determinants of compliance to the recommendations on mammography is needed to identify women to which public health messages should be specifically addressed and also to interpret results from epidemiological data in which some breast cancer cases are detected through screening programmes and others are not. The general characteristics and dietary data of French women participating in the E3N cohort study were analysed. Odds ratios of the frequency of non-compliance to recommendations on breast cancer screening were computed in women over and under the age of 50. Non-compliant women over 50 (i.e. never attenders) had a poorer access to physicians and poorer health with regard to specific risk factors even after adjustment for age and educational level. Women who were used to referring to gynaecologists early in life were better attenders later on. Logically, women under 50 who were over-screened, as compared to public health recommendations, had the opposite characteristics. Public health recommendations should be designed specifically according to targeted subgroups of women. Determinants of attendance for screening should be kept in mind in the interpretation of epidemiological studies in which some cases may be over-screened and others not.