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A study of the effect of perchloroethylene exposure on the reproductive outcomes of wives of dry‐cleaning workers
Author(s) -
Eskenazi Brenda,
Fenster Laura,
Hudes Mark,
Wyrobek Andrew J.,
Katz David F.,
Gerson Jack,
Rempel David M.
Publication year - 1991
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/ajim.4700200503
Subject(s) - laundry , medicine , dry cleaning , pregnancy , environmental health , fertility , toxicology , demography , waste management , population , genetics , sociology , engineering , biology
The purpose of this investigation was to compare the reproductive outcomes of wives of men exposed to perchloroethylene in the dry‐cleaning industry compared to those of wives of laundry workers. Seventeen female partners of dry cleaners and 32 partners of laundry workers were interviewed. The number of pregnancies and the standardized fertility ratios were similar between the two groups. Wives of dry cleaners did not have higher rates of spontaneous abortions. However, wives of dry cleaners were more than twice as likely to have a history of attempting to become pregnant for more than 12 months or to have sought care for an infertility problem. Cox proportional hazards models indicated that dry‐cleaners' wives had half of the per‐cycle pregnancy rate of wives of laundry workers, when controlling for other potential confounders (estimated rate ratio of 0.54, 95% C.I. = 0.23, 1.27).