Prevalence of urinary tract infections and associated factors among pregnant workers in the electronics industry.
OBJECTIVE
Pregnancy is a risk factor for urinary tract infection (UTI), and it has been shown that frequent urine voiding was a protecting factor against UTI for nonpregnant female cleanroom workers. We conducted a study to evaluate whether these findings also apply to pregnant women.


METHODS
We recruited female workers in an industrial park who received an annual health examination between August 1 and September 31, 2003. From each participant, we collected a urine sample and obtained information through a questionnaire.


RESULTS
A total of 2,062 workers, including 118 pregnant and 1,944 nonpregnant women, participated in the study. Pregnancy was a significant risk factor for both symptomatic (odds ratio [OR] = 6.33) and asymptomatic (OR = 2.13) UTIs. Urine voiding three or more times during a shift was a significant protective factor for asymptomatic UTI (OR = 0.40).


CONCLUSIONS
UTI is common among pregnant cleanroom workers, and frequent voiding appears to be a protecting factor.
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, 138 Sheng-Li Road, Tainan 70428, Taiwan.
Shih-Bin
SB
Su
Jiang-Nan
JN
Wang
Chih-Wei
CW
Lu
Hsien-Yi
HY
Wang
How-Ran
HR
Guo
D000328:Adult; D004581:Electronics; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014931:Women, Working / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult