Iran Occupational Health

Background and aims: Low Birth Weight is an important health scale of each country, because it is one of the major factors predicting normal growth and development and even survival of new-born and infants. Previous studies of employed women show various complications such as low birth weight due to job type. In this study, we decided to evaluate the association of Low Birth Weight with job control and job demands among mothers.

Methods: This cross-sectional was study conducted in one of the major centers of gynecologic disorders in Tehran and 197 employed mothers were enrolled. Questionnaires were completed by direct interview by a Bachelor of obstetrics. Psychosocial demands and job control were evaluated by questions from the Job Content Questionnaire JCQ (respectively by nine and five questions).

Results: The mean scores of job control and job demands of mothers with low birth weight were, respectively 41/6 and 38/74. Regression analysis after adjusting for confounding factors showed that Low birth weight is more common in mothers with higher job demand Compared to lower job demand and in mothers with low job control Compared to higher job control (respectively, OR=2/97 and OR=2/85).

Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that the risk of low birth weight is associated with higher job demands and lower job control.