Assessment of Relationship between Spontaneous Abortion and Occupational Exposure to Organic Solvents

Introduction & Nowadays, some studies indicate the adverse effects of exposure to chemicals, especially organic solvents on the reproductive system of females. This study aimed to assess the relationship between spontaneous abortion with occupational exposure to organic solvents in pharmaceutical industry. This is a cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical study which was carried out in 2010 in one of the pharmaceutical factories located in the suburbs of Tehran. During the study, married women who were working in the factory laboratory units and were exposed 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. Frequency of spontaneous abortion and duration of pregnancy were assessed in both two groups. Collected data were analyzed with the SPSS software using t-test, logistic regression, and chi-square test. In the present study, the frequency of spontaneous abortion in employees with exposure to organic solvents mixture was 10.7%. 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. Moreover, 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). According to the results of this study, since there is probability of spontaneous abortion resulting from occupational exposure to various chemicals including organic solvents, review of the status of occupational exposure of workers can be helpful in improving the reproductive health of female workers.