TABLE 4.
Occupational lifting and employment outcomes during pregnancy
| Author, Year | Design | Overall | Exposure Assessment | Lifting Exposure | Effect measure | Effect Size | Outcome | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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| Utility | Freq | Timing | Reference | Categories | (95% CI) | ||||
|
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| Pedersen, 202123 | Prospective cohort | +++ | 2 | 12 and 27 GW | No heavy lifting | Heavy lifting any GW Heavy lifting at 12 GW but not 27 GW Heavy lifting at 27 GW but not 12 GW Heavy lifting at 12 and 27 GW |
Adj OR | 2.10 (1.30, 3.50) 0.80 (0.20, 2.80) 3.70 (1.80, 7.60) 3.20 (1.80, 5.40) |
Sick leave ≥14 days ≤27 GW (0, 1) |
|
| |||||||||
| Guendelman, 201634 | Case-control | ++ | 1 | Retrospective (4.5 months postpartum), for each trimester | No lift >6.8 kg and no standing ≥4 hours | Lift >6.8 kg in trimesters 1 & 2 | Adj OR | 4.20 (1.98, 8.90) | Employment withdrawal during pregnancy (0, 1) |
|
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| Hansen, 201525 | Prospective cohort | ++ | 1 | 17 GW (median) | ≤10 kg ≤20 kg 0–14 kg |
Lifting 11–20 kg Lifting >20 kg Cumulative lifting: 15–100 kg 101–200 kg 201–500 kg 501–1000 kg >1000 kg Trend |
Adj HR | 1.77 (1.70, 1.84) 1.83 (1.74, 1.92) 1.58 (1.49, 1.67) 2.01 (1.87, 2.17) 2.18 (2.02, 2.35) 2.26 (1.99, 2.56) 3.02 (2.54, 3.58) 1.29 (1.27–1.31)a |
First sick leave onset lasting >15 days occurring 10–29 GW (0, 1)b |
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| Kaerlev, 200432 | Retrospective cohort | + | 1 | Retrospective (after delivery) | No heavy lifting | Heavy lifting NOS | Adj OR | 1.90 (1.30, 2.90) | Length of antenatal leave >10% of work time (0, 1) |
|
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| Strand, 199733 | Retrospective cohort | + | 1 | Retrospective (at delivery) for when pregnancy confirmed | Lift <10 kg | Heavy lifting 10–20 kg | Adj OR Adj OR |
1.26 (1.01, 1.57)c 1.48 (1.22, 1.80) |
Antenatal leave >8 weeks before delivery (0, 1) >3 weeks before delivery (0, 1) |
Adj, adjusted; CI, confidence interval; HR, Freq, frequency; hazard ratio; kg, kilograms; NOS, not otherwise specified; OR, odds ratio; RR, relative risk; (0, 1), binary outcome (no, yes).
a
For self-reported cumulative total lifting per day, a positive exposure-response relationship was observed
b
The source publication reports time-dependent effects of the exposures measured by time-varying coefficients (Table 4).25
c
The source publication reports a lower confidence interval of 0.01 for ‘lifting heavy loads (10–20 kg)’ believed to be an error based on the comparable sample size and effect estimate for exposure to ‘standing back bent forward’ (Table 3).34