[The relation between birth weight and paternal occupation].
The relationship between paternal occupation and infant birth weight stratified by sex and parity was analyzed based on 1985 vital statistics. The following results were obtained: 1) There were some differences with high statistical significance detected in Mean Birth Weight (MBW) according to 11 different categories of paternal occupation. The lowest MBW was observed in the unemployed and the highest was in protective service workers. 2) The MBW was significantly decreased and the frequency of low birth weight was significantly increased in infants of unemployed father, compared with those of employed. 3) In infants where the father was unemployed, intrauterine growth rate and mean gestational period, which are considered to be two major processes governing birth weight, were delayed and shortened respectively. Based on these results, it is suggested that paternal unemployment may somehow interfere with fetal growth. Further study is needed to clarify the mechanism of this observed relationship. 1) Professional and technical workers. 2) Managers and officials. 3) Clerical and related workers. 4) Sales workers. 5) Agricultural, forestry and fisheries workers. 6) Mining workers. 7) Workers in transport and communications occupation. 8) Craftsmen, production process workers and labours. 9) Protective service workers. 10) Service workers. 11) Unemployed.
Hiroshige
Y
Y
Department of Human Ecology, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan.
Furuta
M
M
Matsuda
S
S
Kahyo
H
H
D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009790:Occupations; D010298:Parity; D014478:Unemployment