JOB STRAIN AND TIME TO PREGNANCY

Objectives The association between fertility and job strain defined as high job demands and low job control has not previously been studied. A follow-up study was conducted with prospective collection of inform ation on job strain among women, achievement of pregnancy, and potenti al confounding variables. Methods A total of 297 Danish couples withou t previous reproductive experience was followed for a maximum of 6 men strual cycles from termination of birth control until pregnancy. Job d emand and job control were measured by a questionnaire developed by Ka rasek and his co-workers. Results The odds ratio and 95% confidence in terval (95% CI) for conception per menstrual cycle for women with high job strain was 0.9 (95% CI 0.5-1.5) when compared with that of women in low-strain jobs. Only in secondary analyses restricted to couples w ith no suspected competitive causes of reduced fertility was a statist ically significant reduced odds found for women with high-strain jobs compared with all other jobs. Conclusions The main finding of this stu dy did not corroborate a hypothesis of a substantial detrimental effec t of job strain on fecundability.