TIME TO PREGNANCY AMONG WOMEN OCCUPATIONALLY EXPOSED TO LEAD

A retrospective time-to-pregnancy study was conducted among women biol ogically monitored for exposure to lead. The women were participants o f a previous study on spontaneous abortion. They were classified into exposure categories on the basis of questionnaire information and indi vidual blood lead (B-Pb) measurements. The adjusted incidence density ratios (IDR) of clinically recognized pregnancies were .93 (95 % confi dence interval [CI] .56 to 1.57) for very low (B-Pb < .5 mu mol/L), .8 4 (CI .48 to 1.45) for low (B-Pb .5 to .9 mu mol/L), and .80 (CI 0.42 to 1.54) for higher (B-Pb greater than or equal to 1.0 mu mol/L) expos ure compared with no exposure, in the discrete proportional hazards an alysis. Exposure to inorganic lead was not associated with fecundabili ty at current, low-exposure levels. The suggestive finding among the e ight most heavily exposed women (B-Pb 1.4 to 2.4 mu mol/L, IDR .53 CI .19 to 1.52) should be confirmed or refuted in a larger study.