SELF-REPORTED STRESS AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH OF FEMALE LAWYERS

We studied the prevalence and relationship of stress and working condi tions with adverse reproductive outcomes in a cohort of female US law- school alumnae. A total of 584 female lawyers (74% response), aged 25 to 63, responded to a mailed questionnaire. Job hours per week was a s trong predictor of job stress. In a logistic regression analysis, wome n working > 45 hours/week were five times as likely to report high str ess as those working <35 hours/week. Marriage and length of time on th e job showed a small inverse association with stress, Women who worked more than 45 hours/week during their first trimester of pregnancy wer e more likely to report high stress at work during pregnancy. After be ing adjusted for confounding factors, weekly job hours during the firs t trimester of pregnancy showed a strong independent association with spontaneous abortion risk (odds ratio [OR], 3.0; 95% confidence interv al [CI] 1.4 to 6.6). Seven or more alcohol drinks/week was also indepe ndently associated with spontaneous abortion risk (OR, 4.8; 95% CI; 1. 5 to 18.1). Self-reported stress during pregnancy was positively but n ot statistically significantly associated with spontaneous abortion (O R 1.4; 95% CI 0.8 to 2.3).