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Male and female employment in the textile industry in relation to miscarriage and preterm delivery
Author(s) -
Savitz David A.,
Brett Kate M.,
Baird Nina J.,
Tse ChiuKit J.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0274(199609)30:3<307::aid-ajim9>3.0.co;2-v
Subject(s) - medicine , miscarriage , textile industry , occupational exposure , obstetrics , occupational medicine , pregnancy , sex workers , preterm delivery , relation (database) , environmental health , gestation , genetics , biology , computer science , population , archaeology , database , research methodology , history
To address potential reproductive hazards in textile manufacturing, we conducted a community‐based case‐control study in central North Carolina. Miscarriage cases were identified from medical records (280 interviewed cases); preterm delivery cases and term, normal birth weight controls (454 and 605, respectively) were identified from area hospitals. Exposures were based on job title, an interview concerning textile‐related exposures, expert imputation of exposure based on job titles and interviews, and self‐reported exposures by women. Relative to women and men working in nonhazardous occupations, workers in the textile industry were not at increased risk of miscarriage or preterm delivery, with the possible exception of preterm delivery among women and men employed in sectors other than knitting and yarn mills and men employed in yarn mills. Inferred exposures to specific agents were also not associated with adverse pregnancy outcome. Subject to uncertainty in exposure assessment and nonresponse, these data indicate an absence of adverse effects of the textile workplace environment on these pregnancy outcomes. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.