Recall of Reproductive History in Agricultural Workers

Grazia Petrelli1, Irene Figša-Talamanca2, Franco Taggi1

1 Laboratory of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome, Italy
2 Department of Animal and Human Biology, University “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

Corresponding author: Dr. Grazia Petrelli
    Laboratorio di Epidemiologia e Biostatistica
    Istituto Superiore di Sanita
    Viale Regina Elena, 29
    00161 Roma, Italy
    Telephone: (+39) 06 4990 2306
    Fax number: (+39) 06 4938 7069

CEJOEM 2000, Vol.6. No.4.:265-271

Key words:
Time to pregnancy, agricultural workers, recall, couple agreement

Abstract:
The relation between reproductive damage and occupational and environmental toxic substances has been investigated in retrospective epidemiological studies by means of time to pregnancy (TTP). This measure has been validated in several studies conducted on working population, in particular among women. The present paper attempts to evaluate the agreement between recalls of the husband and wife on reproductive history among agricultural workers. The study was carried out in an agricultural area of Central Italy and involved 164 farmers, aged 20-55, licensed to handle pesticides, and their wives. Detailed data on reproductive history were collected by personal interview. Subsequently the farmers' wives were interviewed by telephone. The couples' agreement on the date of marriage was equal to 82.9%, on the birth date of the first child proved to be 83.4%. Concordance on miscarriages was 92.7% (k=0.76) while that on the smoking habits of wives before the first pregnancy was 92.7 (k=0.74). The distribution of the difference of TTP reported by partners showed that 50% reported the same value while at 76% the differences did not exceed ± 3 months. Among the younger couples, 60% reported the same value of TTP, 83% reported differences within three months. The age of the respondent, however, was not a crucial factor in the concordance of husband-wife responses when the delay was beyond 12 months.
    In conclusion, on the basis of the results, it can reasonably be affirmed that the male's recall can be considered as acceptable to study the reproductive history in this agricultural population.

Received:   02 October 2000
Accepted:  14 December 2000
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