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.