Pregnancy outcome for women working in laboratories in some of the pharmaceutical industries in Sweden

Abstract

The pregnancy outcome of laboratory employees in three pharmaceutical in Sweden studied with interviews, postal questionnaires, and register studies. The total material shows only a slightly increased miscarriage rate and normal perinatal mortality and malformation rates. Subdivision into two types of laboratory work, "chemical" and "other," revealed a significant difference, with an increased perinatal death rate and an increased rate of major malformations in the chemical group. This observation supports earlier findings indicating that work during pregnancy in a chemical laboratory can represent a hazard to the fetus.