A relationship in adrenal androgen levels between mothers and their children from a dioxin-exposed region in Vietnam.

Over the past decades, southern Vietnam has been burdened by dioxins from contaminated herbicides sprayed during the Vietnam War. In a previous study, we found that dioxin exposure decreased levels of salivary dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), an adrenal androgen, in 3-year-old children. In present study, to assess the relationship between adrenal hormones disruption in lactating mothers and in children, we compared mother-child pairs from dioxin- and nondioxin-contaminated regions.