Anogenital Distance in Newborns with Hypospadias

Shridhar Ghagane,Nerli Rajendra,Manas Sharma,Nitin Pingale,Shashank Patil,Pulkit Gupta

doi:10.11648/j.ajp.20210701.15

Abstract

Hypospadias is a very common congenital anomaly in which the urethra opens onto the ventral aspect of the penis rather than at the tip. It has an incidence of less than 1% of live male births. In humans, anogenital distance (AGD) is a sexually dimorphic measure of genital development. In this study, we intended to examine the association between AGD and hypospadias using a homogenous group of patients. The same investigator examined all male newborns in our hospital, and anthropometric measurements of the anogenital distance were recorded. All the measurements were made in millimeters (mm) with a sliding digital caliper (graduated in millimeters) used for measuring the distance between the base of the scrotum to the center of the anus; defined as AGD. During the period Jan 2015 to December 2019 (both inclusive), there were 28,426 (14,615 males and 13,811 females) full-term live births in our hospital. The gestational age of the newborns ranged from 37 to 42 weeks. The mean AGD was 21.06±5.57 (range 12.11 to 33.14) mm in newborns without hypospadias, 9.92±1.90 (range 8.0 – 13.9) in newborns with proximal hypospadias and 17.03±1.95 (range 14.0 to 19.9) mm with distal hypospadias. In humans, hypospadias is associated with reduced anogenital distance. AGD further decreases with the severity of hypospadias.

Highlights

Hypospadias is a very common congenital anomaly, wherein the external urethral opening is situated proximal to the usual glanular location
Anogenital distance (AGD), measured from the base of the scrotum to the anus, is a wellknown anthropometric measurement for genital development in animals. [5, 6] The United States Environmental Protection Agency has identified it as a sensitive reproductive end-point of masculinization for Shashank Patil et al.: Anogenital Distance in Newborns with Hypospadias reproductive toxicity studies. [7, 8] AGD is almost twice as long in human males compared with females
This sex difference in AGD is consistent, from 14 to 16-week foetuses, to newborns and infants, and extending until adulthood. [9,10,11] Anogenital distance has shown to provide a lifelong guide to prenatal androgen exposure during the masculinization programming window of testis development. [12,13,14] We took up this study to look at the anogenital distance in all the male newborns in our hospital

Summary

Introduction

Hypospadias is a very common congenital anomaly, wherein the external urethral opening is situated proximal to the usual glanular location. [7, 8] AGD is almost twice as long in human males compared with females This sex difference in AGD is consistent, from 14 to 16-week foetuses, to newborns and infants, and extending until adulthood. [12,13,14] We took up this study to look at the anogenital distance in all the male newborns in our hospital. We compared it with the anogenital distance in the neonates born with hypospadias

Methods

Results

Conclusion