Occupational Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Hemmat Campus, Tehran, Iran.
Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2012 Apr;85(3):295-303. doi: 10.1007/s00420-011-0666-z. Epub 2011 Jun 17.
Due to increasing usage of chemicals in various industries, occupational exposure of women with these materials is unavoidable. Nowadays, some studies indicate adverse effects of exposure to these chemicals, especially organic solvents on the reproductive system of females. This study aimed to assess the relationship between spontaneous abortion and occupational exposure to organic solvents mixture in pharmaceutical industry.
This study was carried out in a pharmaceutical factory located in the suburb of Tehran in 2010. During the study, married women who were working in the factory laboratory units and had exposure to mixed organic solvents were compared with married women who were working in the packing units of the factory without occupational exposure to organic solvents in terms of spontaneous abortion frequency and duration of pregnancy using statistical methods.
In this study, the frequency of spontaneous abortion in employees with and without exposure to organic solvents mixture was 10.7 and 2.9% respectively. This study showed that even after adjustment for confounding factors, there was a significant correlation between spontaneous abortion and occupational exposure to organic solvents mixture and this correlation increased with increasing levels of exposure to organic solvents. Also, a significant correlation was observed between occupational exposure to mixed organic solvents and waiting time to become pregnant (TTP). Furthermore, this study showed that even after adjustment for confounding variables, shift workers were significantly more affected by spontaneous abortion compared to daytime workers (P < 0.001). Also, in our study, synergistic effect between shift working and occupational exposure to organic solvents mixture on spontaneous abortion was seen.
According to the results of this study, since there is probability of spontaneous abortion resulting from occupational exposure to various chemicals including organic solvents, recommendation to review the status of occupational exposure of workers can be helpful in improving fertility consultations and reproductive health.
由于各种工业中化学物质的使用不断增加，女性接触这些物质的职业暴露是不可避免的。如今，一些研究表明接触这些化学物质，尤其是有机溶剂，对女性生殖系统有不良影响。本研究旨在评估制药行业职业暴露于有机溶剂混合物与自然流产的关系。
本研究于 2010 年在德黑兰郊区的一家制药厂进行。在研究过程中，比较了在工厂实验室单元工作且接触混合有机溶剂的已婚女性与在工厂包装单元工作且无职业性接触有机溶剂的已婚女性的自然流产频率和妊娠持续时间，采用统计学方法。
本研究中，接触和未接触有机溶剂混合物的员工自然流产的发生率分别为 10.7%和 2.9%。研究表明，即使在调整混杂因素后，自然流产与职业性接触有机溶剂混合物之间仍存在显著相关性，且这种相关性随着有机溶剂接触水平的增加而增加。此外，职业性接触混合有机溶剂与等待怀孕的时间（TTP）之间也存在显著相关性。此外，本研究表明，即使在调整混杂变量后，轮班工人与白班工人相比，自然流产的风险显著更高（P < 0.001）。此外，在我们的研究中，轮班工作和职业性接触有机溶剂混合物对自然流产的协同作用。
根据本研究的结果，由于职业接触包括有机溶剂在内的各种化学物质可能导致自然流产，因此建议审查工人的职业接触状况，有助于改善生育咨询和生殖健康。
