title: Menstrual disturbances and hormonal changes in women workers exposed to a mixture of organic solvents in a pharmaceutical company.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chemicals are among risk factors that can affect women's reproductive system. This study is aimed to investigate the association of occupational exposure to a mixture of organic solvents with menstruation disturbances and hormonal changes among female workers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Female workers of a pharmaceutical company were divided into three groups of non-exposed, lowexposed and highly-exposed to a mixture of organic solvents (formaldehyde, phenol, N-hexane, and chloroform) based on workplace measurements. Menstrual disturbances (in terms of short cycles, long cycles, irregular cycles, and bleeding or spotting between periods) and mean of hormone levels (including follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone, prolactin, estrogen and progesterone levels) were compared between these three groups. For investigating associations, logistic regression was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our study showed that mean length of cycles, duration of bleeding, and amount of flow and also prevalence of long cycles, irregular cycles, and bleeding or spotting between periods were higher in exposed groups (p≤0.05). Odds ratio for prevalence of menstrual disturbances in the low exposure group and high exposure group were 9.69 (p=0.001) and 3.40 (p=0.002) respectively compared to the reference group. Estrogen and progesterone levels were not affected (p> 0.05), but other hormones levels were significantly disturbed in the exposed groups compared with the non-exposed group (p=0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Occupational exposure to the mixture of organic solvents may be associated with the increase of menstrual disorders and hormonal changes in female workers. Based on our findings, periodic evaluation of reproductive system of female workers in pharmaceutical companies is recommended.
authors.affiliation: 1. MSc, Researcher, Telemedicine Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis & Lung Diseases (NRITLD), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. sh9612003@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Somayeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hassani
authors.affiliation: 2. MD General practitioner, Occupational Medicine Department, School of medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. mnamvar@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mohamad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Namvar
authors.affiliation: 3. MSc, Researcher, Islamic Azad University Pharmacology of Sciences, Tehran, Iran. maryam_ghoreishvandi@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghoreishvandi
authors.affiliation: 4. MD, Associate Professor, Occupational Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Brain and Spinal cord injury research center (BASIR), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. msattarchi@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mirsaeed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Attarchi
authors.affiliation: 5. MD, Occupational medicine specialist, Occupational Medicine Department, School of medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. golabadi_m@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Golabadi
authors.affiliation: 6. MD, Assistant professor, Chronic Respiratory Diseases Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis & Lung Diseases (NRITLD), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. mseyedmehdi@sbmu.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Seyed Mohammad
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Seyedmehdi
authors.affiliation: 7. MSc, Researcher, Occupational Medicine Department, School of medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahshad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khodarahmian
keywords: Hormones; Menstruation disturbances; Occupational exposure; Solvents; Women