Occupational predictors of pregnancy outcomes in Irish working women in the Lifeways cohort

Abstract

Objective The objective of this study was to explore the association between occupational factors and pregnancy outcomes in a prospective cohort of Irish pregnant women.Design This study has a prospective design.Population The Lifeways cohort included 1124 pregnant women, 676 of whom delivered a single baby and were working at their first prenatal care visit when they filled in a self-administered questionnaire.Methods Occupational factors were measured using this questionnaire and included eight factors describing job and working conditions. Data including pregnancy outcomes were also obtained from clinical hospital records. Logistic regression analysis was used to adjust for well-known risk factors.Main outcome measures Birthweight (£3000 g and £2500 g), preterm delivery (<37 gestation weeks) and small-for-gestationalage.Results Significant associations were found between physical work demands and low birthweight (£2500 g) and working with between a temporary contract and preterm delivery. Trends were also observed between working 40 hours or more a week and shift work, and birthweight of 3000 g or less. The study of a cumulative index showed that being exposed to at least two of these occupational factors significantly predicted birthweight of £3000 g (OR = 2.44, 95% CI: 1.17-5.08) and of £2500 g (OR = 4.65, 95% CI: 1.08-20.07) and preterm delivery (OR = 5.18, 95% CI: 1.00-27.01).Conclusions Our findings suggest that occupational factors may predict birthweight through their predictive effects on preterm delivery. This is one of the few prospective studies on pregnancy outcomes that include working conditions. As they may be modifiable, occupational factors deserve more attention in relation to birth outcomes.

Longitudinal follow-up of the relationship between dietary intake and growth and development in the Lifeways cross-generation cohort study 2001–2013

“…The dietary patterns of mothers during pregnancy were socially graduated, as was smoking status (109) . Predictors of pre-term delivery and occupational predictors of pregnancy outcomes were reported in this cohort (111)(112) . Mothers required to do shiftwork tended to have a higher risk of pre-term delivery, adjusted for other factors (111) and this cohort was included in a subsequent meta-analysis, which showed a small effect of shiftwork on risk for this outcome (124) .…”

“…The study is one of very few containing data on grandparents of both lineages, with at least one grandparent recruited at baseline. A summary of publications related to diet and cross-generation transmission to date for the Lifeways cohort study is given in Table 3 (107)(108)(109)(110)(111)(112)(113)(114)(115)(116)(117)(118)(119)(120)(121) . These analyses in this cohort have been consistent in showing an influence on health outcomes at different time points of lifestyle factors including diet and of cross-generation and familial associations.…”

“…Murrin et al (108) Maternal dietary intake during pregnancy Strong social gradient for food consumption patterns 3 Murrin et al (109) Infant birth-weight Associations between both maternal and maternal grandmother's BMI and infant's birth-weight 4 Kelleher et al (110) Dietary patterns of all adults at baseline Age, gender and GMS eligibility associated with both total fat intake and total vitamin c intake 5 Niedhammer et al (111) Infant birth-weight < 3 kg or < 2·5 kg U-shaped relationship to maternal alcohol intake and inverse relationship to maternal smoking patterns 6 Niedhammer et al (112) Pre-term delivery of infants Association with low educational level, 42 % of which is explained by material and lifestyle factors, including smoking, alcohol consumption and high saturated fat intake during pregnancy 7…”

Shift work and Risks in Pregnant Women

“…Of the total 300 respondents, the number of workers within the age group [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] Gender Distribution: On the whole, about 228 (76%) of the individuals were Men; and 72 (24%) were women. Among different age groups, the gender composition varied and the women's ratio has declined in the higher age groups.…”

Study of determinants of health status and quality of life in pregnancy

“…Visoki nivoi poslovnog napora tokom rane trudnoće povezani su sa neželjenim ishodima trudnoće [Vrijkotte 2009]. Fizičke aktivnosti na poslu, koje po pravilu predstavljaju kombinaciju vrlo zahtevnog rada i duge radne nedelje, u celini povećavaju rizik od preterminskog porođaja ili rođenja deteta manjeg nego što odgovara gestacionoj starosti [Gisselmann 2008, Schoenfisch 2008, Vrijkotte 2009, Niedhammer 2009]. Posebno se ističe udruženost preterminskog porođaja sa zahtevnim položajima, u smislu produženih perioda sedenja ili stajanja tokom rada, u trajanju od najmanje tri sata dnevno [Croteau 2007].…”