Investigating the Prevalence of Infertility in Different Occupations and Its Related Environmental and Occupational Factors: Casecontrol Study in Shiraz

Introduction: Infertility is a very important negative event in life which leads to psychological problems and stressful experiences. The problem of infertility around the world has involved different societies, and its incidence is rising. The present study was conducted to examine the prevalence of infertility in different occupations and its related factors in Shiraz in 2017. Methods: This study was carried out as a case-control study. The sample consisted of 195 infertile patients attended an infertility clinic as the case group, and 300 women without fertility problem attended the same clinic as the control group. In order to collect data, a researcher-made questionnaire was used which its validity and reliability were evaluated. The factors examined in this study included the current and previous occupations of individuals and their relationship with exposure to risk factors (poisons and pesticides, harmful radiations and waves, gasoline and other chemical and color solvents) in the workplace and life environment. The collected data were analyzed using Independent T-test and Chi- square test, in SPSS software ver. 21.0 Results: The results indicated the mean age of participants was 36.51 ± 9.82 years old. The maximum exposure in the samples with administrative occupations, were 17.8% and 15.6% in exposure to poisons, pesticides, insecticides and 11.9% and 6% in exposure to gasoline and other chemical solvents in case group and control group, respectively (P-value<0.05). Also, in selfemployed people exposure to poisons, pesticides, and insecticides were 22% and 12.2% and also colors and color solvents were 14.9% and 8.95% in the case and control group, respectively (Pvalue< 0.05). In housekeepers, exposure to radiation and harmful waves were 18.3% and 10.15% and for poisons, pesticides and insecticides were 0.8% and 4.5% in case and control group, respectively (P-value<0.05). Conclusion: It has been discovered that there is a risk of exposure to factors such as poisons,pesticides, insecticides, waves and harmful radiations, which could be as a risk factor for people dealing with infertility. Therefore, planning to minimize contamination in individuals workplace could be effective in preventing infertility

کلیدواژه ها:

Occupations ، Infertility ، Poisons and pesticides ، Harmful waves