Time to pregnancy among Danish laboratory technicians who were a part of the National Birth Cohort.
OBJECTIVE
The Danish National Birth Cohort was used to examine whether laboratory work was associated with reduced fecundity.


METHODS
Self-reported data on laboratory work and waiting time to pregnancy (0-2, 3-5, 6-12 and > 12 months) were used for 829 female laboratory technicians interviewed in 1997-2003. Altogether 6250 female teachers formed the reference group. A discrete-time survival analysis with a complementary log-log link was applied to estimate the fecundability ratio between the exposed and unexposed women, with adjustment for maternal age, gravidity, smoking, prepregnancy body mass index, and paternal job.


RESULTS
No difference in time to pregnancy was found between the laboratory technicians and teachers or between the laboratory technicians with different exposures. The adjusted fecundability ratio for the laboratory technicians was 0.94 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.86-1.02] for all pregnancies and 0.98 (95% CI 0.86-1.13) for first pregnancies. A healthy worker effect was found for the laboratory technicians working with the work processes under study.


CONCLUSIONS
The results do not suggest that laboratory work in Denmark at present impairs female fecundity.
Zhu
Jin Liang
JL
The Danish Epidemiology Science Centre, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark. zjl@soci.au.dk
Knudsen
Lisbeth E
LE
Andersen
Anne-Marie Nybo
AM
Hjollund
Niels H
NH
Olsen
Jørn
J
D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005178:Faculty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D007753:Laboratories / Q000145:classification; D017056:Medical Laboratory Personnel / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011247:Pregnancy; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors