Health and work among women in Italy: An overview of the epidemiological literature

The objective of this paper is to give an overview of the epidemiological s tudies completed in Italy during the past 25 years, about the role of occup ational exposures on the development of adverse health effects on women. Th e implications for research developments are also discussed. The epidemiolo gical investigations of selected categories of work-related health effects published in Italy in the years 1970-1995 were identified from the medical literature databases. The total number of studies is 142, including cohort mortality studies (n = 12), case-control studies of different neoplasms (n = 14), investigations of adverse reproductive effects (n = 8) and studies o f occupational diseases different from the above (n = 94). In most investig ations, women workers were not the main study objective and hence the numbe r of females under study was small. The conclusions is that in Italy, given the dearth of studies of female workers and the preponderance of women in many economic sectors, i.e. the textile and shoe industry, health care, per sonal services and schools, there is a need to identify women workers in th e above industries and occupations as priorities for epidemiological resear ch and surveillance.