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Abstract
Hairdressers, cosmetologists and laboratory workers are exposed to occupational hazards.
This study aimed to replicate previous research.
1) A systematic review of the literature, found 8 papers related to the hairdressers, 3 for cosmetologists and 6 for laboratory workers.
2) The original research examined pregnancy outcomes for Finnish singletons’ parameters: increased male gender, low birth-weight, high birth-weight, pre-term delivery and post-term delivery, small for gestational age, large for gestational age, stillbirth and early neonatal death.
FMBR data included 507,659 primagravidae delivering singletons with at least 22 weeks’ gestation between 1990 and 2010: 12,854 hairdressers, 1841 cosmetologists and 3587 laboratory workers. Control populations: 40,405 teachers, 1968 musicians and 447,004 general population.
Adjusted odds ratios were calculated When hairdressers Vs. general public: three marginally significant results for new-borns: SGA, (OR 1.01, 95% CI: 1.00–1.02), LGA, (OR 1.02, 95% CI: 1.00–1.03) and post-term delivery (OR 1.06, 95% CI: 1.02–1.11).
3) STATA Meta-analysis produced pooled estimates for parameters from studies of relevance.
Marginal significant results for pooled effect size (ES) from the meta-analysis were found for LBW among hairdressers ES 1.083 (95% CI: 1.017–1.153) and SGA among hairdressers (fixed effect) ES 1.077 (95% CI: 1.006–1.153).
Reduction of pooled effect size for LGA infants among hairdressers reached marginal statistical significance, indicating a lowered risk of LGA infants (fixed and random effect) ES 0.81 (95% CI: 0.72–0.93) and ES 0.81 (95% CI: 0.72–0.94) respectively.
The 3 papers on cosmetologists and 6 papers for laboratory workers were also combined with the original study. Pooled independent variable (IV) effect sizes of the meta-analyses did not demonstrate any statistically significant results for pregnancy outcomes.
The thesis concludes that hairdressers may be at a marginally increased risk of low birth weight and small size for gestational age. This may be due to occupational exposure.