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Chun-Yuh Yang,¹ Bi-Hua Cheng,² Shang-Shyue Tsai,¹ Trong-Neng Wu,¹ Meng-Chiao Lin,³ and Kuo-Cherng Lin⁴

¹College of Health Science, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
²Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kaohsiung Chang-Gung; Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung County, Taiwan
³Department of Health, Kaohsiung City Government, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
⁴Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

Abstract

Chlorination has been the major means of disinfecting drinking water in Taiwan. The use of chlorinated water has been hypothesized to lead to several adverse birth outcomes, including low birth weight and preterm delivery. We performed a study to examine the relationship between the use of chlorinated water and adverse birth outcomes in Taiwan. The study areas included 14 chlorinating municipalities (CHMs) , which were defined as municipalities in which > 90% of the municipal population was served by chlorinated water, and 14 matched nonchlorinating municipalities (NCHMs) , defined as municipalities in which < 5% of the municipal population is served by chlorinated water. The CHMs and NCHMs were similar to one another in terms of level of urbanization and sociodemographic characteristics. The study population comprised 18,025 women residing in the 28 municipalities who had a first parity singleton birth between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1996 and for which complete information on maternal age, education, gestational age, birth weight, and sex of the baby were available. The results of our study suggest that there was no association between consumption of chlorinated drinking water and the risk of low birth weight. Key words: chlorination, disinfection by-products, drinking water, infants, low birth weight. Environ Health Perspect 108:765-768 (2000) . [Online 30 June 2000]

http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2000/108p765-768yang/ abstract.html

Address correspondence to: C-Y. Yang, College of Health Science, Kaohsiung Medical University, 100 Shih-Chuan 1st RD, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 80708. Telephone: 886 7 3121101 ext 2141. Fax: 886 7 3110811. E-mail: chunyuh@cc.kmu.edu.tw

This study was partially supported by a grant from the National Science Council, Executive Yuan, Taiwan (NSC-89-2320-B-037-023) .

Received 1 February 2000 ; accepted 11 April 2000.