FERTILITY HISTORY OF CURRENTLY EMPLOYED MALE SEMICONDUCTOR WORKERS

Fertility among men working in semiconductor manufacturing during 1984 -89 was assessed in a 1990-91 cross-sectional study of eight companies . Men working in wafer fabrication rooms (fabs) (n = 241, 165 births) were compared to men in nonfabrication (nonfab) jobs (n = 447, 300 bir ths). Results showed that 17% of fab men and 14% of nonfab men reporte d ever trying for greater than or equal to 1 year to conceive [relativ e risk (RR) = 1.21, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.83-1.74]. Crude b irth rates (births/1,000 person months) were similar [15 fab, 17 nonfa b; crude fertility ratio (FR) = 1.09, 95% CI = 0.86-1.36], as were bir th rates adjusted by Cox models for confounders (adjusted FR = 0.98, 9 5% CI = 0.80-1.19, p = 0.79). Fab men who worked in furnace, thin-film , or ion implantation areas were more likely than nonfab men to report previous difficulty conceiving (25%, RR = 1.79, 95% CI = 1.04-2.94), and their past fertility was lower (nine births/1,000 person months; c rude FR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.40-1.02; adjusted FR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.50- 1.09, p = 0.12). Problems included lack of contraception data and misc lassification of fab subgroups. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.