Documents Nybo Andersen, Anne-Marie 2 results

"Objective The aim of the present study was to examine the association between occupational lifting and the risk of fetal death according to gestational age.Methods We used data from the Danish National Birth Cohort (1996–2002). Among 71 500 occupationally active women, 2886 experienced a fetal death. Information on lifting and relevant covariates was collected in interviews around week 16 of pregnancy. The majority of fetal losses (N=2032) happened before the scheduled interview, and exposure data were collected retrospectively from these women. We analyzed early miscarriage (?12 weeks), late miscarriage (13–21 weeks), and stillbirth (?22 weeks), using Cox-regression models with gestational age as the underlying time variable.Results The adjusted early miscarriage risk increased with frequency of daily lifts and total burden lifted per day. For example, the hazard ratio was 1.38 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.10–1.74] for a total weight load per day of 101–200 kg and 2.02 (95% CI 1.23–3.33) for a daily load >1000 kg as compared to non-lifters (P for trend <0.0001). Late miscarriage was associated with total daily weight load (P for trend=0.0073) but not with number of lifts per day. There was no association between occupational lifting and stillbirth.Conclusions In the present study, the risk of miscarriage increased with the number of lifts and total burden lifted per day at work. There may be a case for advising pregnant women against heavy lifting in particular during early pregnancy."

"Background The stillbirth rates in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden are among the lowest in the world, but socioeconomic disparities in stillbirth still exist. This study examined the educational patterns in the risk of stillbirth in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden from 1981 to 2000.Methods From the national birth registries, all singleton live births and stillbirths with a gestational age of at least 28?weeks were selected in Denmark (n=1?182?888), Finland (n=419?729), Norway (n=1?006?767) and Sweden (n=1?974?101). The births were linked with individual data on parental socioeconomic factors from various national registers. Linear and logistic regression were used to calculate RR and risk differences for stillbirth according to maternal educational attainment.Results The risk of stillbirth was lowest in Finland and highest in Denmark. The risk decreased over time in Denmark, Norway and Finland, but remained stable in Sweden. Educational gradients were found in all countries in all time periods under study. In Denmark, the gradient remained stable over time. In Norway the gradient decreased slightly during the 1990s, whereas the gradient increased in Sweden. The gradient in Finland was relatively stable.Conclusions There were persisting educational inequalities in stillbirth in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in the 1980s and 1990s. Inequalities were stable or decreasing except in Sweden, where an increase in inequality was observed. This increase was not solely attributable to a decreasing absolute risk of stillbirth as both the relative and absolute measures of inequality increased."