Spontaneous abortions among Finnish flight attendants

Abstract

We conducted a retrospective cohort study to investigate whether work as a cabin attendant is related to an increased risk for spontaneous abortion. Data on female cabin crew members were linked to medical records on pregnancies. There were 1751 eligible pregnancies for the final analysis. Flight attendants who worked during early pregnancy had a slightly elevated risk of spontaneous abortion, as compared with attendants who were pregnant outside a time span of active flying (odds ratio [OR] = 1.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.9 to 1.8). During the earliest years of the study period (1973 through 1977), the risk seemed to be decreased (OR = 0.4; 95% CI, 0.2 to 1.1), whereas during the later years (1978 through 1994) the risk was increased (OR = 1.6; 95% CI, 1.1 to 2.4). The results are in agreement with earlier studies, showing suggestive evidence of a slightly increased risk of spontaneous abortion among female cabin crew members.