Relationship between occupational hazards and Adverse pregnancy outcome  in health care workers in Gonabad University of Medical Sciences

M Moharrami; M MoavenSaeidi; N Khajavian

doi:10.18502/tkj.v14i4.12313

M Moharrami Student Research Committee, Faculty of Medicine, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran
M MoavenSaeidi Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Clinical Research Development Unit, Allameh Bohlool Hospital, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran
N Khajavian Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Health, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/tkj.v14i4.12313

Keywords: Occupational hazards, Pregnancy Complications, Health Care Workers

Abstract

Introduction: Reproductive disorders are mentioned as one of the ten main diseases and work-related injuries and working in the health care field may affect pregnancy and its complications .The aim of this study was to observe the adverse consequences of pregnancy between female health care workers in relation to Occupational risk factors

Methods and Materials: This cross-sectional study was performed on 153 female healthcare workers of Gonabad University of Medical Sciences Retrospectively during 2017-2020 who were selected by a Simple random sampling method. Data were collected through a checklist of women Health Care Workers. Data analysis was performed using Descriptive statistics methods, Chi-Square, Mann–Whitney U test with spss 22 at a significant level less than 0.05.

Results: The frequency of pregnancy complications in female employees was 37.9%. Frequency of Premature labor 9.8%, abortion at 3.9%, and low birth weight at 6.5%, intrauterine growth restriction 4.6%, spotting and bleeding 25.5%, and pre-eclampsia 2% was reported. There was a significant association between some occupational hazards such as stress (P=0.04), exposure to anesthetic gas (P=0.015), prolonged standing (P=0.035), shift work (P=0.039), and workplace (P=0.012) with pregnancy complications. There was significant relationship between exposure to anesthetic gas with preterm labor (P=0.015) and Hours of work with low birth weight (P=0.013) and also significant relationship between shift work (P=0.039), long-standing (P=0.035) and workplace (P=0.012) with spotting and bleeding.

Conclusion: Our study showed that some job characteristics and occupational hazards in health care workers affect the mother and the fetus and increase the risk of some pregnancy complications. Therefore, the support of pregnant health care workers in their work environment and the development of appropriate solutions in this regard must be taken into consideration by relevant organizations.