There was a difference in the risk of miscarriage and stillbirth according to the occupational group of pregnant women. It is an analysis that irregular working hours or stress during the work process can have an effect.
The National Medical Center (NMC) obstetrician-gynecologist research team Jeong-won Yoon published the results of a study that confirmed the relationship between pregnant women’s occupational group and miscarriage and stillbirth in the international journal ‘Occupational Health’ on the 25th (local time).
A miscarriage is the termination of a pregnancy before the fetus is ready for birth. This is usually before the 20th week of pregnancy. A stillbirth is a condition in which the fetus dies at the time of delivery, usually ending following the 4th month of pregnancy.
The research team analyzed 1,825,845 women with a history of pregnancy registered with the National Health Insurance Service. Among them, 1,248,618 women with jobs were classified into seven occupational groups: wholesale and retail, education, health and social welfare, public and service, finance, and real estate, and then the association with miscarriage and stillbirth was confirmed.
The occupational group with the highest proportion of pregnant women who suffered miscarriages or stillbirths was in education. Of the 136,574, 18,859, or 13.9%, experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth. It was followed by wholesale/retail business at 13.8%, public/services at 13.6%, real estate at 13.5%, manufacturing at 13.4%, and health and social welfare at 13.1%. The financial sector had the lowest rate of miscarriage and stillbirth at 10,632, or 12.7% of 83,743.
The rate of unconfirmed normal birth following pregnancy showed a larger difference by occupational group. The research team defined cases that did not fall under miscarriage or stillbirth and had no birth record as non-normal births. The research team explained that “cases may include failures in labor or chemical pregnancy processes or induced abortions.” Estimates of induced abortions for non-live births range from 7% to 15%.
The occupational group with the highest proportion of pregnant women whose normal births were not confirmed was health and social welfare, which accounted for 41.4%. It was followed by 40.8% of manufacturing, 39.8% of public/service, 38.8% of wholesale/retail and real estate, and 38.5% of education. Among the seven occupational groups, the financial industry with the lowest rate of miscarriage and stillbirth also had the lowest rate of unconfirmed normal births at 38.8%.
Women’s economic activity also had an impact on miscarriage, stillbirth, and live birth rates. Miscarriage and stillbirth were more prevalent in unemployed women. The miscarriage rate of unemployed pregnant women was 14.7%, 1.9 percentage points higher than the miscarriage rate of working women (12.8%). The rate of stillbirth was also found to be slightly higher for pregnant women without a job (0.6%) than for pregnant women with a job (0.5%). “Overall, pregnant women with jobs were found to be younger and healthier than those without jobs,” the research team explained.
Chae-bong Kim, a researcher at the Department of Preventive Medicine at Korea University, who is the first author of the paper, said, “The difference in the analysis results was not large, but consistent risk results were obtained depending on the occupational group.” It seems that working hours and the risk of exposure to harmful substances in the manufacturing industry have become risk factors for normal childbirth,” he added, adding, “As the current policies and regulations for maternity protection for working women are evaluated as poor, it is necessary to prepare related systems. “he added.