Occupational risks for human reproduction: ELSPAC Study. European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood.

Pregnant women living in Brno who were contacted for the first time at 18th week of their pregnancies during the period from February 1990 to January 1992 were involved into the ELSPAC group. Among others, the exposure to different occupational factors in the three periods was obtained by the self-reported questionnaire: 1. the last 9 months before pregnancy, 2. the first, and 3. second trimester periods. The women's health status during pregnancy, the history of delivery and the developmental and health status of newborns were described in details by obstetrics and pediatrics according to another internationally unified questionnaire. All data obtained from 3,897 pregnant women living in Brno were computered. Smoking women were significantly more often than non-smokers occupationally exposed to ergonomic stressors associated with the monotony work, and to chemical substances. In the whole group, the intrauterine growth retardation has been positively associated with shifting (OR 1.59, p < 0.05) and occupational exposure to permanent noise (OR 1.92, < 0.05). Newborns of such exposed women had in average lower parameters of head cimcumstances (p < 0.01). Non-physiologic, non-spontaneous deliveries have been more often observed among VDTs users (OR 1.20-1.28, p < 0.05). Women exposed to organic solvents during 2nd trimester of pregnancy delivered more often babies with some congenital malformations (OR 2.31, p < 0.05). On the other hand, the different occupational factors seemed to be protective for several markers of the women health status, as the prevalence of reproductive damages was significantly lower among exposed women than in the non-exposed group. After the standardization of the smoking habit, more significant associations have occurred in the group of smokers occupationally exposed to: shift work (low-birth-weight babies: OR 1.98, p < 0.05), chemicals (bleeding during pregnancy: OR 2.00, p < 0.05), sedentary work (placental abnormalities and congenital malformations: OR 1.59, p < 0.05). Non-smoking women using VDTs had more often babies with intrauterine growth retardation (OR 2.29, p < 0.05). Newborns with different malformations were more often born to non-smoking women occupationally exposed to chemicals (OR 2.33, p > 0.05).