Demographic, behavioral, and reproductive history differences by maternal working status before and during pregnancy: implications for reproductive studies

Details

• Personal Author:
  Agopian AJ ; Bell EM ; Bertke SJ ; Desrosiers TA ; Gilboa SM ; Lawson, Christina C. ; Rocheleau CM ; Romitti PA
• Description:
  Studies of occupational exposures among reproductive-aged women must address biases that could be caused by self-selection to employment. Data from controls in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study with births from 1997-2007 were used, representing a random sample of live births unaffected by birth defects. We compared personal and household characteristics of women who held any job during the 3 months prior to conception through the end of pregnancy (n = 5978, 71.7%) to those of women who did not hold any job in this period (n = 2365, 28.3%). Patterns of maternal work were also evaluated, including: frequency of part-time, full-time, and long work hours; job change; and job cessation. Most women who did not work during this period self-identified as homemakers/parents (80.4%) or students (14.1%); few reported being disabled (1.2%) or between jobs/unemployed (3.5%). Maternal age, parental race, parental nativity, parental education, and household income differed between families of working and nonworking women. Non-working women were more likely to be multiparous compared to working women (73.8% vs. 54.4%). Working women were more likely to have planned their index pregnancy and have used fertility drugs or treatments to conceive, however they were also more likely to report pregnancy risk behaviors including not using a folic acid supplement during the periconceptional period, smoking, drinking alcohol, and paternal (but not maternal) use of illicit drugs. These patterns could introduce bias in studies of occupational exposures in relation to reproductive outcomes that are not restricted to workers only. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aging Alcoholic Beverages Behavior Demography Education Epidemiology Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Pregnancy Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Smokers Substance-Related Disorders Tobacco Products Urogenital System Women

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• Keywords:
  Age-groups Alcoholic-beverages Behavior-patterns Cigarette-smoking Demographic-characteristics Drug-abuse Drugs Fertility Household-workers Job-analysis Occupational-exposure Reproduction Reproductive-system Risk-factors Smoking Vitamins Workers

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• ISSN:
  0002-9262
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  177
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042838
• Citation:
  Am J Epidemiol 2013 Jun; 177(Suppl 11):S145
• CAS Registry Number:
  Folic acid (CAS RN 59-30-3)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Epidemiology
• Supplement:
  11
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6827d0ca2f54a184f1b232dd40c864e2a3a98015d640ab9633305b99cc25faf449fef7cc808d4de867ba588b87920f78b4b3f2a3065e94d4de78e126250ba382
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194936/cdc_194936_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 37.46 KB ]