Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health logoLink to Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
. 1991 Mar;45(1):29–34. doi: 10.1136/jech.45.1.29

Is preterm delivery still related to physical working conditions in pregnancy?

M J Saurel-Cubizolles 1, D Subtil 1, M Kaminski 1
PMCID: PMC1060698  PMID: 2045741

Abstract

STUDY OBJECTIVE--The aim was to determine the relationship between working conditions during pregnancy, women's occupation, and preterm birth. DESIGN--This was a retrospective survey. SETTING--The study was carried out in four public maternity units in France in 1987 and 1988. SUBJECTS--1949 women were interviewed after the delivery during their stay in hospital. Of these, 1002 held a job during pregnancy, but this report is confined to 875 women who had a single live birth and who had worked for more than the first trimester of pregnancy. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS--Information about social and occupational status was obtained through interviews, and data about gestational length were obtained from medical records. The primary results showed that preterm birth did not vary significantly according to working conditions whereas it differed according to occupational group. CONCLUSIONS--Occupation, but not working conditions, affected the incidence of preterm birth. This result is discordant with other studies which underlined the excess of preterm births among women with strenuous working conditions. Reasons for this discrepancy may include (1) change in perception of "strenuous working conditions"; (2) improved working conditions; (3) the development of "preventive" strategies by pregnant women. Occupation is a more reliable indicator of risk than self described working conditions.

Full text

PDF
29

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Ericson A., Eriksson M., Källén B., Zetterström R. Maternal occupation and delivery outcome: a study using central registry data. Acta Paediatr Scand. 1987 May;76(3):512–518. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1987.tb10508.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Hartikainen-Sorri A. L., Sorri M. Occupational and socio-medical factors in preterm birth. Obstet Gynecol. 1989 Jul;74(1):13–16. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Kramer M. S. Determinants of low birth weight: methodological assessment and meta-analysis. Bull World Health Organ. 1987;65(5):663–737. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. MANTEL N., HAENSZEL W. Statistical aspects of the analysis of data from retrospective studies of disease. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1959 Apr;22(4):719–748. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Mamelle N., Laumon B., Lazar P. Prematurity and occupational activity during pregnancy. Am J Epidemiol. 1984 Mar;119(3):309–322. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a113750. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Mamelle N., Munoz F. Occupational working conditions and preterm birth: a reliable scoring system. Am J Epidemiol. 1987 Jul;126(1):150–152. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a114649. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. McDonald A. D., McDonald J. C., Armstrong B., Cherry N. M., Côté R., Lavoie J., Nolin A. D., Robert D. Congenital defects and work in pregnancy. Br J Ind Med. 1988 Sep;45(9):581–588. doi: 10.1136/oem.45.9.581. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. McDonald A. D., McDonald J. C., Armstrong B., Cherry N. M., Nolin A. D., Robert D. Prematurity and work in pregnancy. Br J Ind Med. 1988 Jan;45(1):56–62. doi: 10.1136/oem.45.1.56. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Murphy J. F., Dauncey M., Newcombe R., Garcia J., Elbourne D. Employment in pregnancy: prevalence, maternal characteristics, perinatal outcome. Lancet. 1984 May 26;1(8387):1163–1166. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(84)91404-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Saurel-Cubizolles M. J., Kaminski M., Llado-Arkhipoff J., Du Mazaubrun C., Estryn-Behar M., Berthier C., Mouchet M., Kelfa C. Pregnancy and its outcome among hospital personnel according to occupation and working conditions. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1985 Jun;39(2):129–134. doi: 10.1136/jech.39.2.129. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Saurel-Cubizolles M. J., Kaminski M., Rumeau-Rouquette C. Activité professionnelle des femmes enceintes, surveillance prénatale et issue de la grossesse. J Gynecol Obstet Biol Reprod (Paris) 1982;11(8):959–967. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Saurel-Cubizolles M. J., Kaminski M. Work in pregnancy: its evolving relationship with perinatal outcome (a review). Soc Sci Med. 1986;22(4):431–442. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(86)90048-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES