Occupafional, Environmentfll and Lifestyle factors associated with spontaneous miscarriage in Kirkuk city

Abstract

Background:  Spontaneous miscarriage is the unintentional expulsion of an embryo or fetus before the 24th week of gestation affecting up to I -5% of couples trying to establish a family .ln addition to a recorded increase in the rate of spontaneous miscarriage among the Iraqi women at all ages and all over the country where an interplay of several etiologies, occupational, environmental  and Iifestyle factors were suggested to be the causes of the miscarriage.
Aim: To explain the association between occupational, environmental and lifestyle factors affecting the spontaneous miscarriage in Kirkuk city.
Patients &Mejthods: A total of (500) pregnant women in the age of (18-48) years old attending the outpatient of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Azadi Teaching hospital in Kirkuk city during the period from December (2010) to December (2012). Data used in the research were collected using a questionnaire designed for this study.
Results: From a total of (500) pregnant women subjected to various laboratory tests and to strict examination by the Obstetrics &Gynecology consultant, about (478) healthy pregnant women were selected and were subdivided into two groups; the first group included (328) women whom pregnancies were terminated by spontaneous miscarriage in the first trimester (<13 weeks of gestation), the other group included (150) women who had progressed to delivery. The results of the occupational factors inquiry showed that, teaching and medical occupations significantly affected pregnancy outcomes (p<0.05) and increased the spontaneous miscarriage compared to the results showed by the other occupations. A comparison between rural and urban results of pregnancy outcome showed a significant increase (p<0.05) in the spontaneous miscarriage rate among the urban patients (79.1%). Moreover, the lifestyle factors that included smoking, coffee and stress allshowed significant increase (p<0.05) in the percentage of spontaneous miscarriage in about (63Yo, 66.lyo and 89.6%) respectively.
Conclusions: Results showed a high rate of spontaneous miscarriage among the pregnant women in Kirkuk city during the period from December 2010 to December 2012 especially among teaching and health professional  occupations. Besides the frequency of spontaneous miscarriage was higher in urban than in rural area in addition to Lifestyle factors that included smoking, coffee intake and stress which significantly increased the rate of spontaneous miscarriage.