To examine the association of parental occupation and poor reproductive outcomes, a case control study was conducted on 422 matched pairs. Cases were selected from the women who were residents of Taegu city and delivered a baby with congenital anomaly, or birth weight under 1,500gm, or a stillbirth, or gave a live birth but died within the first week after birth at one of the five major hospitals in Taegu between 1 April 1991 and 31 March 1993.´ There were 869 women who met these criteria but telephone interview was successful for 422 women. Controls were selected by 1:1 pair-match with the women who delivered a normal´, baby of birth weight over 2,500gm. Matching variables were the hospital of delivery, maternal age and educational level, birth order, and baby sex. Basic demographic and medical data were obtained from the hospital record and detailed occupational and other medical history were obtained by a telephone interview. Odds ratio (OR) of each occupational category for the reproductive outcome and the OR adjusted for the pregnancy complications and maternal chronic diseases were obtained by the conditional logistic regression of EGRET program. For all poor reproductive outcomes including congenital anomalies, stillbirth. - Very low birth weight, and early neonatal death, paternal work during one-year period before the index pregnancy in plastic and synthetic works (OR=13.69, 95% CI 1.62-115.50), construction works (OR=3.16, 95% CI 1.51-6.59), dyers{OR=3.15, 95% CI 1.20-8.´,30), and metal workers (OR=2.73, 95% CI 1.50-4.98) had largest ORs. The largest ORs adjusted for pregnancy complications and maternal chronic diseases were 55.78(95% CI 1.82-1700) for plastic and synthetic workers. 4.53(95% CI 1.39-14.78) for dyers, 3.18(95% CI 1.02-9.91) for vehicle and machine maintenance workers, and 2.49(95% CI 1.25-4.98) for metal workers.
The maternal occupations prior to one-year before the index pregnancy that showed an increased risk for all poor reproductive outcomes were dyeing (OR=4.64, 95% CI 0.54-39.74) service works (OR=2.38, 95% CI 0.82-6.91), and electronic/electric/computer-works (OR=1.47, 95% CI 0.42-5.21). Adjusted ORs that were greater than 1 were dyeing (OR=13.´05, 95% CI 0.31548.60) and service works (OR=1.66, 95% CI 0.39-6.93).
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