Undescended testis and hormone levels in early pregnancy.

A case-control study was carried out on mothers of boys with undescended testis to investigate the hypotheses that raised maternal levels of oestrogen or reduced levels of human chorionic gonadotrophin in early pregnancy might be factors in the environment of the fetus associated with this condition. No significant difference in the levels of either of these hormones was found, though, if anything, levels of oestrogen may have been lower in cases than in controls, and not higher as previously postulated.