ArticleAnnals of occupational and environmental medicine2017
The relationship between spontaneous abortion and female workers in the semiconductor industry.
Article in Annals of occupational and environmental medicine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Semiconductor Work and the Risk of Spontaneous Abortion: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Pooled it
- Three cases of congenital diseases in the children of female semiconductor workers at a company recognized by the Occupational Disease Adjudication Committee.Annals of occupational and environmental medicine · 2025Article
- Associations between maternal occupational exposures and pregnancy outcomes among Chinese nurses: a nationwide study.Reproductive health · 2023Article
- Non-Motherhood between Obligation and Choice: Statistical Analysis Based on Permutation Tests of Spontaneous and Induced Abortion Rates in the Italian Context.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Health Status, Health-Related Factors and Work Environment in Korean Semiconductor Workers between 1984-2012: A Qualitative Study and a Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Green Nanofabrication Opportunities in the Semiconductor Industry: A Life Cycle Perspective.Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Pregnancy, childbirth, and puerperium outcomes in female firefighters in Korea.Annals of occupational and environmental medicine · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThis study investigated the relationship between job type and the risk for spontaneous abortion to assess the reproductive toxicity of female workers in the semiconductor industry.
methodsA questionnaire survey was administered to current female workers of two semiconductor manufacturing plants in Korea. We included female workers who became pregnant at least 6 months after the start of their employment with the company. The pregnancy outcomes of 2,242 female workers who experienced 4,037 pregnancies were investigated. Personnel records were used to assign the subjects to one of three groups: fabrication process workers, packaging process workers, and clerical workers. To adjust for within-person correlations between pregnancies, a generalized estimating equation was used. The logistic regression analysis was limited to the first pregnancy after joining the company to satisfy the assumption of independence among pregnancies. Moreover, we stratified the analysis by time period (pregnancy in the years prior to 2008 vs. after 2009) to reflect differences in occupational exposure based on semiconductor production periods.
resultsThe risk for spontaneous abortion in female semiconductor workers was not significantly higher for fabrication and packaging process workers than for clerical workers. However, when we stratified by time period, the odds ratio for spontaneous abortion was significantly higher for packaging process workers who became pregnant prior to 2008 when compared with clerical workers (odds ratio: 2.21; 95% confidence interval: 1.01-4.81).
conclusionsWhen examining the pregnancies of female semiconductor workers that occurred prior to 2008, packaging process workers showed a significantly higher risk for spontaneous abortions than did clerical workers. The two semiconductor production periods in our study (prior to 2008 vs. after 2009) had different automated processes, chemical exposure levels, and working environments. Thus, the conditions prior to 2008 may have increased the risk for spontaneous abortions in packaging process workers in the semiconductor industry.
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Registered trials
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