Work in pregnancy.

Pregnant women in the western world are increasing their part in paid employment. This can be added to their work in the home which, with their leisure and athletic activities, might add up to a considerable load; the possible effects this exertion could have on the woman and her unborn child has been realized only in the last twenty years and many attempts have been made to quantify it. The patterns of work in the home, in employment, and at sporting activity are assessed. There are two distinct areas of possible influence on the fetus: the work with its physical effort might affect respiratory and metabolic acid-base balance and specific teratogens related to activity at work may be encountered and act at nodal points during fetal growth at specific times, causing congenital abnormalities of organs. Potential hazards under chemical, physical, and biological headings are considered, while both the psychological and physical effect of energy expenditure are discussed. Possible measures of outcome are assessed and three recently published studies from the U.S. and U.K. are examined to show the difficulties of making valid measurements about the effect of work on the pregnancy, as well as that of pregnancy on the work. It is probable that ordinary work done by a fit young woman has no serious effect on herself or a healthy fetus. Research will continue, for it may be that with an impaired afferent nutrition and oxygen supply to the fetus, certain specific increases in degrees of work could have an exaggerated effect.