title: Assessment of time to pregnancy and spontaneous abortion status following occupational exposure to organic solvents mixture.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Due to increasing usage of chemicals in various industries, occupational exposure of women with these materials is unavoidable. Nowadays, some studies indicate adverse effects of exposure to these chemicals, especially organic solvents on the reproductive system of females. This study aimed to assess the relationship between spontaneous abortion and occupational exposure to organic solvents mixture in pharmaceutical industry.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was carried out in a pharmaceutical factory located in the suburb of Tehran in 2010. During the study, married women who were working in the factory laboratory units and had exposure to mixed organic solvents were compared with married women who were working in the packing units of the factory without occupational exposure to organic solvents in terms of spontaneous abortion frequency and duration of pregnancy using statistical methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this study, the frequency of spontaneous abortion in employees with and without exposure to organic solvents mixture was 10.7 and 2.9% respectively. This study showed that even after adjustment for confounding factors, there was a significant correlation between spontaneous abortion and occupational exposure to organic solvents mixture and this correlation increased with increasing levels of exposure to organic solvents. Also, a significant correlation was observed between occupational exposure to mixed organic solvents and waiting time to become pregnant (TTP). Furthermore, this study showed that even after adjustment for confounding variables, shift workers were significantly more affected by spontaneous abortion compared to daytime workers (P < 0.001). Also, in our study, synergistic effect between shift working and occupational exposure to organic solvents mixture on spontaneous abortion was seen.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to the results of this study, since there is probability of spontaneous abortion resulting from occupational exposure to various chemicals including organic solvents, recommendation to review the status of occupational exposure of workers can be helpful in improving fertility consultations and reproductive health.
authors.affiliation: Occupational Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Hemmat Campus, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mir Saeed
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Attarchi
authors.forename: Monir
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ashouri
authors.forename: Yasser
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Labbafinejad
authors.forename: Saber
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mohammadi
mesh_terms: D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D000328:Adult; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D004345:Drug Industry; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D062665:Epidemiological Monitoring; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D018811:Maternal Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors; D012997:Solvents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D009930:Organic Chemicals; D012997:Solvents