Preterm birth, small for gestational age, and major malformations for working with specific processes among laboratory technicians (n = 991)
| Work process | Births, n | Preterm birth | Small for gestational age | “Major” malformations | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) | Crude OR | Adjusted OR (95% CI) | n (%) | Crude OR | Adjusted OR (95% CI) | n (%) | Crude HR | Adjusted HR (95% CI) | ||
| Cox regression for major malformations, HR: hazard ratio; logistic regression for preterm birth and small for gestational age, OR: odds ratio; adjusted for maternal age, gravidity, history of spontaneous abortion, prepregnancy body mass index, smoking, alcohol consumption, paternal job, and sex of child; CI: confidence interval; reference group for each work process was laboratory technicians not working with the particular work process. | ||||||||||
| Chromatography | 205 | 12 (5.9) | 1.6 | 1.6 (0.8 to 3.3) | 21 (10.4) | 1.4 | 1.3 (0.7 to 2.2) | 8 (3.9) | 0.6 | 0.7 (0.3 to 1.4) |
| Photometry | 238 | 9 (3.8) | 0.9 | 0.8 (0.4 to 1.7) | 19 (8.0) | 1.0 | 1.0 (0.6 to 1.7) | 14 (5.9) | 1.1 | 1.0 (0.6 to 1.9) |
| Electrophoreses | 167 | 7 (4.2) | 1.0 | 0.9 (0.4 to 2.2) | 14 (8.4) | 1.1 | 1.0 (0.5 to 1.8) | 9 (5.4) | 0.9 | 1.0 (0.5 to 2.1) |
| Extraction (eg hormones) | 130 | 7 (5.4) | 1.4 | 1.5 (0.6 to 3.5) | 14 (10.8) | 1.4 | 1.5 (0.8 to 2.8) | 7 (5.4) | 1.0 | 0.9 (0.4 to 2.0) |
| Radiolabelling | 96 | 7 (7.3) | 2.0 | 1.9 (0.8 to 4.6) | 11 (11.6) | 1.5 | 1.6 (0.8 to 3.2) | 9 (9.4) | 1.8 | 1.8 (0.9 to 3.7) |
| Radioimmunoassay | 61 | 5 (8.2) | 2.2 | 2.2 (0.8 to 6.2) | 4 (6.6) | 0.8 | 0.8 (0.3 to 2.3) | 7 (11.5) | 2.2 | 2.1 (1.0 to 4.7) |
| Enzyme techniques | 285 | 5 (1.8) | 0.3 | 0.3 (0.1 to 0.8) | 21 (7.4) | 0.9 | 0.9 (0.5 to 1.5) | 12 (4.2) | 0.7 | 0.7 (0.4 to 1.3) |
| Human blood/tissue processing | 338 | 12 (3.6) | 0.8 | 0.8 (0.4 to 1.6) | 24 (7.2) | 0.8 | 0.8 (0.5 to 1.3) | 22 (6.5) | 1.2 | 1.2 (0.7 to 2.1) |
| Working with animals | 70 | 1 (1.4) | 0.3 | 0.3 (0.0 to 2.3) | 8 (11.6) | 1.5 | 1.6 (0.7 to 3.5) | 6 (8.6) | 1.6 | 1.7 (0.7 to 4.0) |
| Working with microorganisms | 251 | 11 (4.4) | 1.1 | 1.2 (0.6 to 2.4) | 18 (7.2) | 0.8 | 0.8 (0.5 to 1.4) | 12 (4.8) | 0.8 | 0.8 (0.4 to 1.6) |
| Preparation of slides | 215 | 7 (3.3) | 0.8 | 0.7 (0.3 to 1.7) | 21 (9.8) | 1.3 | 1.3 (0.8 to 2.3) | 15 (7.0) | 1.3 | 1.3 (0.7 to 2.4) |
| RNA or DNA isolation | 70 | 4 (5.7) | 1.4 | 1.7 (0.6 to 4.9) | 3 (4.3) | 0.5 | 0.5 (0.1 to 1.5) | 4 (5.7) | 1.0 | 1.2 (0.4 to 3.2) |
| Organic-chemical processes | 195 | 9 (4.6) | 1.2 | 1.2 (0.5 to 2.6) | 15 (7.7) | 0.9 | 0.8 (0.5 to 1.5) | 10 (5.1) | 0.9 | 1.0 (0.5 to 1.9) |
| Organic synthesis | 65 | 2 (3.1) | 0.7 | 0.7 (0.2 to 3.0) | 3 (4.6) | 0.5 | 0.5 (0.2 to 1.7) | 0 (0.0) | NA | NA |
| Inorganic synthesis | 66 | 1 (1.5) | 0.3 | 0.3 (0.0 to 2.2) | 4 (6.1) | 0.7 | 0.7 (0.3 to 2.1) | 2 (3.0) | 0.5 | 0.4 (0.1 to 1.7) |