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Objectives: To determine if maternal prenatal infection increases risk of offspring postnatal infections through age 5 or diagnosis of respiratory allergy at age 5, independent of prenatal/postnatal antibiotic exposure. To evaluate if frequency of offspring infections mediates an association between prenatal infection and respiratory allergy at age 5. Study design: Secondary data analyses were performed from the Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS), a prospective, longitudinal birth cohort that enrolled pregnant women from 1959 to 1966 (N = 19,044 live births). The sample included a subset of mother-offspring dyads (n = 2062) with abstracted medical record data from the prenatal period through age 5 that included information on antibiotic use, infection, and offspring respiratory allergy. Results: Second trimester maternal infection was associated with an increased risk of offspring infection (IRR = 1.23; 95% CI = 1.09–1.39; p = 0.001). No significant direct associations were detected between prenatal infection and diagnosis of offspring respiratory allergy. Offspring infection (OR = 1.17; 95% CI = 1.13–1.20; p

Abstract Background Mammographic breast density (MBD) and benign breast disease (BBD) are two of the strongest risk factors for breast cancer. Understanding trends in MBD by age and parity in women with BBD is essential to the clinical management and prevention of breast cancer. Methods Using data from the Early Determinants of Mammographic Density (EDMD) study, a prospective follow-up study of women born in 1959–1967, we evaluated MBD in 676 women. We used linear regression with generalized estimating equations to examine associations between self-reported BBD and MBD (percent density, dense area, and non-dense area), assessed through a computer-assisted method. Results A prior BBD diagnosis (median age at diagnosis 32 years) was reported by 18% of our cohort. The median time from BBD diagnosis to first available study mammogram was 9.4 years (range 1.1–27.6 years). Women with BBD had a 3.44% higher percent MBD (standard error (SE) = 1.56, p-value = 0.03) on their first available mammogram than women without BBD. Compared with parous women without BBD, nulliparous women with BBD and women with a BBD diagnosis prior to first birth had 7–8% higher percent MBD (β = 7.25, SE = 2.43, p-value