Offspring health risk after cosmetic breast implantation in Sweden.

Case reports have suggested that children born to women with silicone breast implants may have an excess risk of rheumatic disease and/or esophageal disorders. In Sweden, the authors conducted a retrospective cohort study of 5,874 children born to women with cosmetic breast implants and 13,274 children born to women who had breast reduction surgery. Using national registers, they computed hospitalization rates for rheumatic and esophageal disorders, incidence rates for cancer, and prevalence rates for congenital malformations and perinatal death. Relative to children of women who had breast reduction surgery, children born to women who had cosmetic breast implants were not at excess risk of rheumatic disease (relative risk [RR] = 1.1; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.2-5.3), esophageal disorders (RR = 1.0; 95% CI, 0.7-1.6), cancer (RR = 0.3; 95% CI, 0.0-2.5), congenital malformations in total (RR = 1.0; 95% CI, 0.6-1.5), or specifically involving the digestive organs (RR = 0.5; 95% CI, 0.2-1.3) or perinatal death (RR = 0.9; 95% CI, 0.5-1.8). The rates of these health outcomes among children born after a mother's implant surgery were also not significantly higher than among children born before a mother's implant surgery. This study provides no evidence that certain hypothesized health outcomes are more likely among the children of women with cosmetic breast implants.