Spontaneous abortion in the British semiconductor industry: An HSE investigation

Background The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) conducted a study to ex amine the risk of spontaneous abortion (SAB) in British female semiconducto r industry workers, following reports from the USA which suggested an assoc iation between risk of SAB and work in fabrication rooms and/or exposure to ethylene glycol ethers. Methods A nested case-control study based on 2,207 women who had worked at eight manufacturing sites during a 5-year retrospective time frame was esta blished; 36 cases were matched with 80 controls. Results The overall SAB rate in the industry was 10.0%. (65 SABs/651 pregna ncies) The crude odds ratio (OR) for fabrication work was 0.65 (95% CI 0.30 -1.40). This was essentially unchanged after adjustment for a range of pote ntial confounding factors in the first 3 months of pregnancy and was reduce d to 0.58 (95% CI 0.26-1.30) after adjustment for smoking in the previous 1 2 months. There were no statistically significantly elevated ORs for any wo rk group or any specific chemical or physical exposure in the industry. Conclusion There is no evidence of an increased risk of SAB in the British semiconductor industry Am. J. Ind. Med. 36:557-572, 1999. Published 1999 Wi ley-Liss, Inc.