Fertility and reproduction in women working in beet growing and animal breeding (1943-1982)
Chusova, V.N.
Gigiena Truda i Professional'nye Zabolevaniya (3): 3-7
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0016-9919 PMID: 2351285 Document Number: 374909
To evaluate the indices of physiological fertility in female agricultural workers, the outcomes of 24,153 pregnancies registered in the period from 1943 to 1982 in various beet growing and animal breeding regions of Ukraine were analyzed. More than one half of all pregnancies (63.9%) were recorded in women 30 years old. On average, a woman had 5.05 pregnancies; 47.4% of pregnancies terminated in normal delivery, 48.3% in abortion, and 3.7% in miscarriage (0.6% were extrauterine pregnancies). Average duration of the active ovarian function (from the onset of menstruation to the menopause) was 33.0 years. Occupational hazards included physically demanding work, exposure to dust, pesticides, fertilizers, and animal feed. It was suggested that the factual fertility is best characterized not by the birth rate but by the functional and calendar interval between pregnancies coupled with fertility coefficients (intensity of conceptions in unit of time) in women who did not use the contraceptive agents. For the given cohort, the functional interval between conceptions (refractory period) and actual fertility rate (AFR) were calculated. During the most active child bearing period (up to 40 years of age), the AFR was 5.27% in beet growers, 6.83% in animal breeders, and 6.04% in white collar workers. For the entire child bearing period (from 17 to 50 years of age), AFR ranged from 3.36 to 4.99%. The functional and calendar intervals between pregnancies showed gradual increase with age (from 10.1 months to 200 months). In a 25-29-year-old group, the interval between pregnancies was 17,1 months for beet growers, 12.0 months for animal breeders, and 18.7 months for white collar workers.