Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 1996 May;6(3):201-8.
doi: 10.1016/1047-2797(96)00010-5.

Fertility rates among lead workers and professional bus drivers: a comparative study

S Lin  1 , S A Hwang, E G Marshall, R Stone, J Chen
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Fertility rates among lead workers and professional bus drivers: a comparative study

S Lin et al. Ann Epidemiol. 1996 May.

Abstract

We examined the relationship between lead exposure and fertility among men in a retrospective cohort study. Fertility (1981-1992) of lead-exposed workers was determined from birth certificate information and was compared with that of nonexposed workers. The exposed group consisted of 4256 reproductive-age male workers reported to the New York State Heavy Metals Registry. The comparison group consisted of a random sample of male bus drivers licensed in the state of New York; these men were frequency-matched by age and residence to the men who were exposed to lead. The actual number of births among lead workers was lower than the expected number of births for that group (standardized fertility ratio [SFR] = 0.88; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.81-0.95), especially among those who had elevated blood lead levels for longer than 5 years (SFR = 0.43; 95% confidence interval [CI]: = 0.31, 0.59). Even after adjusting for age, race, education, and residence, workers with > 5 years of exposure had reduced likelihood of fathering a child than those with a shorter period of exposure (relative risk, 0.38; 95% CI: 0.23, 0.61). Our study indicates that men with a long duration of lead exposure might have reduced fertility.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources