Method for monitoring the fertility of workers. 2. Validation of the method among workers exposed to dibromochloropropane
A method has been developed for monitoring industrial workers and others exposed to environmental agents which may impair fertility. National birth probabilities specific for maternal birth cohort, age, parity, and race are used to derive expected fertility. Observed fertility is obtained by questionnaire. Standardized fertility ratios are computed for exposure and non-exposure periods and compared. The analytic techniques have been validated by applying the method to a group of 36 male factory employees working in an agricultural chemical division (ACD) where pesticides including the nematocide dibromochloropropane were formulated. Twelve of these employees in mid-1977 had been discovered to have severely depressed sperm counts related to occupational exposure. The standardized fertility ratio (SFR) computed from data available in mid-1977 for the period at risk from employment in the ACD (SFR = 0.75) was significantly lower than those derived for the entire not-at-risk period (SFR = 1.88) and the portion related to employment in other areas of the factory (SFR = 2.16). Similar differences also were evident from data available several years earlier, demonstrating that the surveillance technique would have been capable of detecting occupationally induced infertility among these workers in advance of the actual discovery date.
- Research Organization:
- Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology, Research Triangle Park, NC (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6274392
- Journal Information:
- JOM, J. Occup. Med.; (United States), Vol. 23:3
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
HEALTH HAZARDS
HALOGENATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
MEASURING METHODS
SPERMATOZOA
SENSITIVITY
FERTILITY
OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES
ORGANIC BROMINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
PERSONNEL
PROPANE
VALIDATION
ALKANES
GAMETES
GERM CELLS
HAZARDS
HYDROCARBONS
INDUSTRY
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
TESTING
560300* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology