Prospective monitoring of early fetal loss and clinical spontaneous abortion among female semiconductor workers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Eskenazi B ; Gold EB ; Hammond SK ; Hines CJ ; Lasley BL ; Rasor MO ; Samuels SJ ; Schenker MB ; Wright S
• Description:
  Early fetal loss and spontaneous abortion (SAB) were monitored prospectively in women who work in silicon wafer fabrication (fab) rooms to determine whether fab workers were at increased risk of SAB compared to nonfab workers. An attempt was also made to determine whether specific work processes were associated with any identified increased risk. Pregnancy information was collected prospectively by measuring human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in daily urine samples which were collected from 152 women employed in fabrication rooms and 251 nonfab workers in an effort to monitor early fetal loss. The samples were collected over a 6 month period. During the period 52 women (19 in the fab and 33 nonfab groups) became pregnant with a total of 56 pregnancies. Live births occurred more often in the nonfab pregnancies than among the fab workers, with 63% of the fab pregnancies resulting in live births versus 86% among the nonfab pregnancies. Fab workers also had a higher prior risk for clinical SAB. Fab SAB rates were higher among smokers. In comparing fab supergroups, the supervisors/engineers group workers were at a significantly greater risk of SAB. Compared with nonfab workers, the crude risk rate for dopant and thin film workers was 1.57; for masking workers, 1.47. Of the 52 women who did become pregnant, three were exposed to ethylene based glycol ethers (EGE) and all three had SABs; all three had been in the lowest EGE exposure groups. Two of the three had also been exposed to fluoride. Eight of the 14 pregnant women exposed to fluoride had SABs; five worked in the group with the lowest category of fluoride exposure. The authors conclude that the SAB risk is slightly elevated in fab workers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Epidemiology Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Semiconductors Solvents Urogenital Diseases Urogenital System
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Miscarriage Glycol Ethers Humans Occult Pregnancy Occupational-exposure Organic-solvents Reproductive-hazards Reproductive-system-disorders Risk-factors Semiconductor Manufacturing Subclinical Pregnancy Wafer Fabrication

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• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  28
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00230990
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 1995 Dec; 28(6):833-846
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1996
• Performing Organization:
  University of California - Davis
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19900930
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20020929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d146da79db7d705f5c72f8c29c4112f901e8d5a09585209809ec2ad018f68c732c466b84c6a6bce67d5c41fe8f949d0040d22556efad089f8448b22c7ddca26c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/205417/cdc_205417_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 906.06 KB ]