| ObjectiveThis study aims to describe the usage of household chemicals during pre-pregnant and thefirst trimester and explore the factors linked with the use of these products, and examine therelation between household chemicals usage and intrauterine growth of fetus, premature, smallfor gestational age, low birth weight.MethodsPregnant women who firstly received prenatal care with complete survey data wererecruited as the study participants from Oct.2008to Oct.2010in3maternal and child healthcenters of Hefei, Wuhu, Maanshan. The participants were required to complete theself-administered questionnaires to gather information such as demographic data, pregnancyrelated conditions, unhealthy lifestyle, household chemicals during pre-pregnancy and firsttrimester, psychological stress. Follow up delivery records which include fetal gender andgestational weeks, weight, height, circumference of head and chest of neonates. The Wilcoxonrank sum tests, Kruskal-Wallis tests, Chi-square tests were then used to compare the distributiondefference of household chemicals during pre-pregnant and the first trimester among differentgroups of demographic variables. Linear regression analysis was used to examine the connectionbetween household chemicals and indicator of intrauterine growth. The ordinal and binarylogistic regression analysis were adopted to explore the possible influence factors of householdchemicals during pre-pregnant and the first trimester. Binary logistic regression analysis wereused to describe the relationship between household chemicals use and premature birth, low birthweight, small for gestational age during pre-pregnant and the first trimester. ResultsA total of10241pregnant women entered into analysis during pre-pregnant, Whiteningcream was the most frequently used during pre-pregnancy, and other household chemicals wererarely used, the vast majority of participants hardly used these products(≤35％). Maternaleducation level of junior high school and below was reversely associated with the use ofhousehold chemicals. Positive associated factors for using these products including pregnantwomen age≤29years, pre-pregnancy BMI≤24.99kg/m2, the city of Wuhu, maternal history of ofabortion, gynecological infections, antenatal anxiety, antenatal depression, six months beforepregnancy with a history of taking contraceptives, history of smoking, drinking, taking orinjecting drugs. Binary logistic regression showed no significant association between householdchemicals usage during pre-pregnant and preterm birth, low birth weight (RR values were closeto1, P>0.05), even showing a protective effect in the small for gestational age (high score groupvs. low score group RR=0.74,95％CI:0.57-0.94). Household chemicals uage at pre-pregnantdidn’t positively associated with premature, small for gestational age, low birth weight evenstratified by the sex of the fetus, maternal age, pre-pregnancy BMI. Linear regression analysisdidn’t show a significant association with birth weight, birth length, head circumference, chestcircumference. Rural household chemicals used at the first trimester was higher than the urbanarea, Maternal education level-junior high school or lower, pregnant women age≤29years,pre-pregnancy BMI≤24.99kg/m2, antenatal anxiety, antenatal depression, six months beforepregnancy with a history of taking contraceptives, smoking, drinking, taking or injecting drugswere positively associated factors for using these products, while vaginal bleeding wasnegatively associated with these products. Binary logistic regression showed no significantassociation between household chemicals usage during the first trimester and preterm birth, lowbirth weight (RR values were close to1, P>0.05), even showing a protective effect in the pretermbirth (used group vs. non-used group RR=0.72,95％CI:0.58-0.90). Household chemicals uageduring the first trimester didn’t positively associated with premature, small for gestational age,low birth weight even stratified by the sex of the fetus, maternal age, pre-pregnancy BMI. Linearregression analysis didn’t show a significant association with birth weight, birth length, headcircumference, chest circumference. ConclusionWhitening cream was the most frequently used during pre-pregnancy(59.2％), while otherhouse hold chemicals were rarely used(≤35％). Maternal education level-junior high school orlower was reversely associated with the use of household chemicals. Positive associated factorsfor using these products including pregnant women age≤29years, pre-pregnancy BMI≤24.99kg/m2, the city of Wuhu, maternal history of of abortion, gynecological infections, antenatalanxiety, antenatal depression, history of taking contraceptives, smoking, drinking, taking orinjecting drugs. Whitening cream was the most frequently used during the first trimester(28％),while other house hold chemicals were rarely used(≤29％). Rural household chemicals usedduring first trimester was higher than the urban area, Maternal education level-junior high schoolor lower, pregnant women age≤29years, pre-pregnancy BMI≤24.99kg/m2, antenatal anxiety,antenatal depression, six months before pregnancy with a history of taking contraceptives,smoking, drinking, taking or injecting drugs were positively associated factors for using theseproducts, while vaginal bleeding was negatively associated with these products. Householdchemicals uage during pre-pregnant and the first trimester didn’t positively associated withpremature, small for gestational age, small for gestational age, index of fetal growth anddevelopment. |
