ABSTRACT
Objective[s]: To evaluate the association of parental occupational exposures to six categories of occupational hazards including pesticides, solvents, paint and pigments, organic and non-organic dusts, and metals with the risk of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia [ALL] in their offspring
Methods: From 2007-2009 our hospital based case-control study was performed with 200 children diagnosed with ALL and 200 controls consisting of children suffering from endocrine or rheumatologic disorders, who were matched by age and sex. The study was performed at the Children's Medical Center and Vali-Asr hospital, in Tehran, Iran. The parents were interviewed face to face to gather information on demographic characteristics, child's medical history and home exposures, and parental occupational histories
Results: We found that paternal exposures to non-organic dusts [OR [95% confidence interval]=2.17 [1.11-4.26]; P=0.02] and metals [OR [95% confidence interval]=2.68 [1.38-5.21]; P=0.004] were related to an increased risk of ALL in their offspring. No significant relations were found for the other paternal exposure categories neither for the all maternal exposures categories with the risk of ALL in their offspring
Conclusion: Our study provides support to the association between some paternal occupational exposures and ALL risk in their offspring. Further studies are necessary to corroborate the observed associations in this study
ABSTRACT
Infertility can be a major concern for couples trying to conceive, and occupational hazards may constitute a main cause of infertility in men. Studies conducted throughout the world indicate that physical and chemical hazards in the workplace can have a negative impact on male fertility. The main objective of this study was to determine the frequency of occupational categories of men who attended an infertility clinic, and to evaluate the differences in the semen quality parameters among occupational categories. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 1164 males who were referred to the Infertility Research Center in Tehran for treatment of infertility in order to evaluate the effects of certain occupations on infertility. The participants were divided into several categories according to their occupations and evaluated by means of a questionnaire for duration of infertility, BMI, sperm count, percentage of normal sperm morphology and percentages of sperm with class A and class B motilities. Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, and correlations were conducted using SPSS 16.0 for Windows. There were no statistically significant differences in the mean sperm count or sperm morphology between occupational categories. Assessment of the differences in the frequency of sperm motility classes between occupational categories revealed a significant difference only in the frequency of sperm with class B motility. The lowest mean percentages of sperm with class B motility were seen in those involved in the transportation industry, a finding in agreement with a number of other researches. Our findings revealed an association between occupation and sperm motility. Since our study population was relatively small and in many cases exposures to work hazards were brief, a larger study group must be evaluated in order to support the preliminary results of this study