Exsposure to Organic Solvents - Potential Risk for pregnancy and Foetal Development

Overview

ELSPAC (European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood) includes women living inthe town Brno and the district Znojmo, who accepted the participation on the project in their18th - 20th week of pregnancy within the period November 1990 - February 1992.Objective: Wide and repeated anamnestic and clinical observations both of parents and childrenallowes to analyse damages of pregnancy, foetal and neonatal development and child health andtheir relations to environmental conditions.Design: Prospective study.Setting: Research Institute of Child Health, Cejl 91, Brno.Methods: In the group of 3251 ELSPAC women, their smoking habit and occupational history hasbeen obtained by self-completed questionnaire. Data were analyzed and their associations todifferent damages of pregnancy and foetal development were evaluated. Data about health statuswere collected by physicians who used the unified methods.Results: Prevalence of all types of damages was higher among smokers compared to non-smokers:the differences were significant for bleeding during 2nd trimester and suspect intrauterine growth retardation. On the other hand, the prevalence of congenital malformations was similaramong smokers and non-smokers.The women™ exposure to organic solvents has shown the associations to bleeding at the 1st trimes-ter, to placental abnormalities and to congenital malformations: the observed prevalence of mal-formations was more than twice higher than that expected (OR 2.11, p < 0.05).Smoking enhanced the effects of exposure to organic solvents to the congenital malformationsdevelopment. Compared with non-exposed non-smokers, the observed/expected ratio was higherboth among smokers exposed before pregnancy (OR 2.08), and among smokers exposed during thefirst half of the pregnancy (OR 2.50).Conclusions: Although it is necessary to investigate the teratogenic effects of organic solvents inmore details, there are reasons for control of women exposure to these chemicals. Physicianstaking care about pregnant women would recommend to avoid the organic solvents both for theiroccupational and domestic using.

Key words:
organic solvents, smoking, malformations