In hospitals, women of reproductive age do a range of
work tasks, some of which are known to carry potential
risks. Tasks such as working with radiation, chemicals,
and infectious agents, as well as performing heavy lifting
or tasks requiring erratic sleep patterns have been
reported to increase the risk of reproductive failures.
Our aim was to study pregnancy outcomes in female
hospital workers in Denmark. We performed a cohort
study of 5976 female hospital workers and used as a reference
group 60,890 women employed outside of hospitals.
The reproductive health of hospital workers
working during pregnancy is comparable to those of
non-hospital workers for the majority of reproductive
failures studied. However, an increased prevalence of
congenital abnormalities was noted in some subgroups
of hospital workers, which may indicate that some hospital
work still entails fetotoxic hazards.