Parental Exposure to Ionizing Radiation and Birth Defects

Details

• Personal Author:
  Beasley C ; Waller DK
• Description:
  Methods - We studied 38,009 mothers who participated in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS) between 1997 and 2009. Mothers with potential exposure to ionizing radiation from occupational sources or from diagnostic x-rays or CT scans focused on the urinary tract, pelvis, spine to total body during pregnancy were identified based on maternal interviews that described occupations, workplaces, job activities and diagnostic tests. Occupational Exposures - There was no association between mothers who had potential exposure to ionizing radiation from occupational sources and 39 categories of NBDPS birth defects in aggregate {AOR= 0.88; 95% Cl= 0.74 - 1.05). Mothers with this type of exposure did have a significantly increased risk for 4 of 39 categories of birth defects and a significantly protected risk for 1 of 39 categories of birth defects. These results should be interpreted cautiously because our measurement of exposure is qualitative. Also, some of these associations may be due to occupational exposures that are correlated with ionizing radiation and some may be due to chance. Overall, these findings suggest that women who are occupationally exposed to ionizing radiation during pregnancy have the same frequency of infants with structural birth defects (in aggregate) as unexposed women. It appears that most exposures to occupational sources of ionizing radiation are low and that the majority of pregnant women who work with ionizing radiation are not at increased risk of structural birth defects due to this exposure. Exposure to Radiologic Exams - Mothers exposed to radiologic exams that delivered ionizing radiation to the urinary tract, lower back, abdomen, pelvis or total body during the first trimester of pregnancy had no increase in all NBDPS birth defects in aggregate (OR= 1.0; 95% Cl= 0.6 -1.6). They did have a significantly increased risk for 2 of 22 categories of structural birth defects. These results should be interpreted cautiously because multiple statistical tests were conducted and exposure to radiographic exams was based on maternal report, requiring mothers to distinguish between ultrasound, ionizing radiation and magnetic resonance imaging. The categories of birth defects that were associated with this exposure did not correspond to those that were associated with occupational exposures to radiation. Overall, 0.9 % of mothers reported exposure to a radiographic exam that met the study criteria. The levels of pelvic radiation that occur due radiographic exams are generally much higher than the level of ionizing radiation that mothers are exposed to in their occupations. Although, our findings may be explained by chance, the finding that almost 1.0% of pregnant women have this type of radiographic exposure suggests that a larger study of these exposures would be useful and would hopefully provide greater certainty regarding the safety of radiographic diagnostic exams during early pregnancy. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Pregnancy Radiation Safety
• Keywords:
  Birth Defects Ionizing Radiation Occupational Exposure Prenatal Exposure Radiological Hazards
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Final Grant Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 6 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20055520
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2019-100838
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, R03-OH-010315, 2014 Nov; :1-7
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr. Kim Waller, 1200 Pressler Avenue, Suite E643, Houston, Texas, 77030
• Email:
  kim.waller@uth.tmc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Performing Organization:
  University of Texas, Health Science Center, Houston
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20120901
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20140831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ed6dad8ea8c515a53cf80e2bb45519aed53fd8826979708e3d3d802814827580519e6d6e4ebb416ec3cd1ad0421417a5fa800649735bd294b7db64895b232c0b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/218850/cdc_218850_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.12 MB ]