[ OSH-Link Home
| IVI Online
| Comments ]
A community based study of reproductive health in textile workers was conducted in central North Carolina. Cases of miscarriage were identified from hospital and clinic records. Preterm delivery cases and normal term controls were identified from area hospital records. The study group consisted of 280 women identified as having had a miscarriage and 454 women who experienced preterm delivery, as well as 605 normal birth weight controls. The women were interviewed an average of 8.1 months after the end of pregnancy. Exposures were based on job title, questions concerning textile related exposures, expert assessment of exposure based on review of job titles and interviews, and self reported exposures. Workers in the textile industry did not appear to be at increased risk of miscarriage or preterm delivery relative to workers in other occupations. Inferred exposures to specific agents (vibration, solvents, standing, heat, or noise) were also not associated with adverse pregnancy outcome. The father's employment in the textile industry was very weakly associated with miscarriage and preterm delivery. The authors conclude that these data suggest an absence of adverse effects of the textile workplace environment on pregnancy outcomes in female textile workers.
American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 30(3):307-316, 1996. (25 references)
You can do a search of the OSH-DB database and get a list of articles on any topic of interest on our Visitor Search Page. Access to read the articles is limited to OSH-DB subscribers.