Occupational and environmental risks in and around a smelter in northern Sweden

This paper reports the results of a study of spontaneous abortion among female employees at the RÖnnskär smelter and of birth weight in their offspring. An increased frequency of spontaneous abortion was found in pregnancies where the mother was employed during pregnancy or had been employed before pregnancy and was still living close to the smelter. Women occupied in close connection with the smelting processes had a significantly higher abortion frequency than other employees. When also the father was employed the abortion frequency was higher than if only the mother was employed. In the offspring of mothers working at the smelter birth weight was decreased mainly in later pregnancies. The lowest birth weights were found in the offspring of women working in close contact with the smelting processes. A shortening of gestation time can apparently not explain the decreased birth weight. Furthermore the decreased birth weight is unlikely to be caused by maternal smoking habits.