| Review of Neural Tube Defects: Risk Factors in Parental Occupation and the Environment Birgitte M. Blatter, Marjolijn van der Star, and Nel Roeleveld Department of Medical Informatics and Epidemiology, University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands Abstract
We conducted a study of published work to evaluate the evidence for the hypothesis that environmental exposure and parental occupation are risk factors for neural tube defects. As other risk factors such as maternal illnesses, medication, and dietary factors have been reviewed before, this review only summarizes this information. In studies concerning environmental pollution, only a few weak associations were found. It appears that specific studies on the topic of parental occupation and neural tube defects are scarce. Therefore, studies on broader malformation categories, such as central nervous system defects, were also taken into account. Both maternal and paternal occupation seem to be associated with the occurrence of neural tube defects. However, results are not always consistent with each other, and relevant recommendations concerning prevention thus cannot be given before more studies with larger populations are conducted to confirm or refute the findings reviewed. Key words: chemical exposure, neural tube defects, parental occupation, risk factors. Environ Health Perspect 102:140-145(1994) http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1994/102-2/blatter.html Address correspondence to B.M. Blatter, Department of Medical Informatics and Epidemiology, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, the Netherlands. This project is financially supported by Prinses Beatrix Fonds. Received 23 December 1992 ; accepted 12 November 1993.
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