IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i22p11748-d675213.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Association between Maternal Exposure to Chemicals during Pregnancy and the Risk of Foetal Death: The Japan Environment and Children’s Study

Author

Listed:
  • Tadao Ooka

    (Department of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Yamanashi, Chuo-shi 409-3898, Yamanashi, Japan)

  • Sayaka Horiuchi

    (Center for Birth Cohort Studies, University of Yamanashi, Chuo-shi 409-3898, Yamanashi, Japan)

  • Ryoji Shinohara

    (Center for Birth Cohort Studies, University of Yamanashi, Chuo-shi 409-3898, Yamanashi, Japan)

  • Reiji Kojima

    (Department of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Yamanashi, Chuo-shi 409-3898, Yamanashi, Japan)

  • Yuka Akiyama

    (Department of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Yamanashi, Chuo-shi 409-3898, Yamanashi, Japan)

  • Kunio Miyake

    (Department of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Yamanashi, Chuo-shi 409-3898, Yamanashi, Japan)

  • Sanae Otawa

    (Center for Birth Cohort Studies, University of Yamanashi, Chuo-shi 409-3898, Yamanashi, Japan)

  • Hiroshi Yokomichi

    (Department of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Yamanashi, Chuo-shi 409-3898, Yamanashi, Japan)

  • Zentaro Yamagata

    (Department of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Yamanashi, Chuo-shi 409-3898, Yamanashi, Japan
    Center for Birth Cohort Studies, University of Yamanashi, Chuo-shi 409-3898, Yamanashi, Japan)

  • on behalf of the Japan Environment and Children’s Study Group

    (Study group members are listed in the Acknowledgments.)

Abstract

Scarce knowledge is available on the relationship between maternal chemical exposure during pregnancy and foetal deaths. We studied the association of spontaneous abortions and stillbirths with occupational or daily maternal exposure to chemicals commonly used by pregnant women. Data from the Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS), a nationwide prospective birth cohort study, were used. The participants of the study were asked about the frequency of their use of gasoline, pesticides, hair dye, and chlorine bleach during the first and the second to third trimesters of pregnancy. We investigated the relationship between the frequency of the use of chemicals and foetal death. Of the 104,065 foetuses, 923 (0.91%) were spontaneous abortions and 379 (0.37%) were stillbirths. Any type of exposure during the first trimester was not significantly associated with spontaneous abortions. Nevertheless, a more than weekly occupational use of hair dye from the first to the second/third trimester was significantly associated with stillbirth. The results of this study suggest that the frequent use of hair dye during pregnancy can have severe adverse effects on the foetus. These findings can help pregnant women, especially hairdressers, refrain from the continuous use of hair dyes.

Suggested Citation

  • Tadao Ooka & Sayaka Horiuchi & Ryoji Shinohara & Reiji Kojima & Yuka Akiyama & Kunio Miyake & Sanae Otawa & Hiroshi Yokomichi & Zentaro Yamagata & on behalf of the Japan Environment and Children’s Stu, 2021. "Association between Maternal Exposure to Chemicals during Pregnancy and the Risk of Foetal Death: The Japan Environment and Children’s Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-14, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:22:p:11748-:d:675213
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/22/11748/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/22/11748/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lucijan Mohorovic & Oleg Petrovic & Herman Haller & Vladimir Micovic, 2010. "Pregnancy Loss and Maternal Methemoglobin Levels: An Indirect Explanation of the Association of Environmental Toxics and Their Adverse Effects on the Mother and the Fetus," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 7(12), pages 1-10, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eric Amster & Clara Lew Levy, 2019. "Impact of Coal-fired Power Plant Emissions on Children’s Health: A Systematic Review of the Epidemiological Literature," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-11, June.
    2. Árpád Stump & Bálint Herczeg & Ágnes Szabó-Morvai, 2023. "The Effect of Air Pollution on Fertility Outcomes in Europe," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 2310, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:22:p:11748-:d:675213. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.