Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY
Volume 156, Issue 4, Pages 374-382Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwf038
Keywords
abnormalities; chlorine compounds; disinfection; water pollution, chemical; water purification
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
To assess the effect of water chlorination by-products on specific birth defects, the authors conducted a nationwide cross-sectional study of 285,631 Norwegian births in 1993-1998. Risks of birth defects according to four chlorination by-product exposure categories were compared on the basis of chlorination (yes/no) and level of water color (mg Pt/liter), representing the amount of natural organic matter: high (chlorination, less than or equal to20), medium (calorination, 10-19.9), and low (chlorination, <10) exposure, with no chlorination and low color (<10) as the reference category. In logistic regression analysis, the risks of any birth defect (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.13, 95% confidence interval (Cl): 1.01, 1.25) and of cardiac (adjusted OR = 1.37, 95% Cl: 1.00, 1.89), respiratory system (adjusted OR = 1.89, 95% Cl: 1.00, 3.58), and urinary tract (adjusted OR = 1.46, 95% Cl: 1.00, 2.13) defects were significantly associated with exposure (medium and high combined). Regarding risk of specific birth defects, only that for ventricular septal defects was significantly elevated, with an exposure-response pattern, yielding adjusted odds ratios of 1.63 (95% Cl: 1.02, 2.58) for the medium and 1.81 (95% Cl: 1.05, 3.09) for the high exposure categories. Furthermore, risk of neural tube defects was related to high color (adjusted OR = 2.60, 95% Cl: 1.30, 5,26).
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available