Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 職業醫學與工業衛生研究所 === 89 === This study was to determine whether there was an increased risk of having an adverse birth outcome and infant mortality among the residents who lived in a community where the groundwater was contaminated with chlorinated organic solvents by a manufacturing factory.
We used the birth registration data, between 1978 and 1997, to identify singletons born to parents living in villages around the factory. Based on the groundwater hydrogeology, we classified study villages into three areas, factory located as a high-exposure area, those in the downstream as low-exposure areas, and those in the upstream as reference areas. The factory workers were excluded to control the exposure source from the groundwater. Associations between the exposure area and adverse birth outcomes were determined by four periods 1978-82,1983-87,1988-92, and 1993-97.
Parents in high-exposure areas received more education and were more likely with white collar occupation than parents in low-exposure areas and reference areas. The relative risks for low birth weight, and infant mortality in high-exposure area were not statistically significant different from other two areas. After controlling for infant sex, parity, maternal marital status, maternal age at birth, maternal education, and maternal occupation, the adjusted odds ratio for preterm delivery among the high-exposure and low-exposure areas during 1988-92 were 1.67 (95% CI=1.03-2.71) and.1.57 (95% CI=1.07 — 2.30). During 1993-97, the adjusted odds ratio for preterm delivery among the high-exposure and low-exposure areas during 1988-92 were 1.60 (95% CI=1.14 - 2.24). and 1.23 (95% CI=0.91 — 1.65).
It was concluded that there might be an increased risk of having a preterm birth to residents who lived in a community with chlorinated organic solvents contaminated groundwater.
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