International Union for Circumpolar Health Ministry of Public Health and Social Development of RF Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences Medical Polar Fund “Science” The Northern Forum

Abstracts

Child health. Women`s health

Objective: To investigate whether pregnant women employed in nickel-exposed work areas are at elevated risk of delivering a newborn with genital malformation and of a spontaneous abortion.

Methods: A register-based cohort study. Data about pregnancy outcome and occupation were obtained using the Kola Birth Registry (KBR) (1). Each record in the KBR was assigned a categorical nickel (Ni) exposure rating according to the occupation the delivering woman had at the time of becoming pregnant. This was achieved by using as guidelines the water-soluble Ni subfraction of the inhalable aerosol fraction obtained by personal monitoring for nickel-refinery workers and/or measured urinary-Ni concentrations (2,3). The reference population was delivering women from Mončegorsk with background exposure level. The association of the outcome with the assigned exposure ratings was analysed in a logistic regression model, adjusted for parity, maternal malformation, exposure to solvents, and infection in early pregnancy. Further details available in:Vaktskjold A, Talykova L, Chashchin V, Nieboer E, Thomassen Y, Romanova N, Odland JØ. Genital malformations among newborns of female nickel refinery workers. Scan J Work Env Health 2006;32(1):12-21

Results: The odds ratio for Ni-exposed women to deliver a newborn with genital malformation was 0.81 (95% C.I.: 0.52, 1.26), and with undescended testis 0.76 (95% CI: 0.40, 1.47). The results concerning risk of spontaneous abortion will be available by the time of the conference, and included in the presentation there.

Conclusion: In this study we found no negative effect of maternal exposure to water-soluble Ni on the risk of delivering a newborn with malformations of the genital organs. The results should be interpreted with caution since there were few cases in the higher exposure groups. Our findings do not exclude the possibility of an effect on the risk of other congenital malformations and adverse outcomes (including reduced fertility).

References (1) Vaktskjold A, Talykova L, Chashchin V, Nieboer E, Odland JØ. The Kola Birth Registry and perinatal mortality in Montsjegorsk, Russia. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2004;83(1):58-69. (2) Thomassen Y, Nieboer E, Ellingsen D et al. Characterisation of workers' exposure in a Russian nickel refinery. J Environ Monit. 1999;1(1):15-22. (3) Thomassen Y, Nieboer E, Romanova N et al. Multi-Component Assessment of Worker Exposures in a Copper Refinery. Part 1: Environmental Monitoring. J Env Monit. 2004;6(11).

Note. Abstracts are published in author's edition

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