Survey on Awareness for Environmental Health Risk of Fetus and Infant in Reproductive-aged Women

Objectives: The accumulated evidence shows that adult disease may have origins during the fetal period and maternal environmental exposure may affect fetus and infant health. To assess the environmental health of fetus and infants and examine women’s concerns about environmental health, we designed and conducted an environmental health survey in reproductive-aged women in 2011. Methods: A stratified multi-stage design was adopted for our survey, and 1,000 reproductive-aged women aged 25 to 39 years participated. The participants were asked to complete an electronic questionnaire using the computer-assisted web interviewing method. All the participants were married woman, and 80% had experienced pregnancy before completing the survey. Results: In the study, 86.3% of the participants responded that they are worried about the environmental problems that may affect the fetus and infant. The participants responded that they were most worried about global warming and climate change (36.2%), electromagnetic waves (31.4%), and endocrine disrupting chemicals (25.1%). Moreover, participants responded that environmental problem can cause children’s allergic disease, such as atopic dermatitis, metabolic syndrome and growth development. Conclusion: We found reproductive-aged women have high awareness of children’s environmental health. We also recommended that additional surveys on mother and child environmental health be conducted to make a health policy for women, fetus and infant. (Ewha Med J 2018;41(2):35-43) Received February 1, 2018 Revised April 16, 2018 Accepted April 16, 2018