PMID- 32404142 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20201117 LR - 20201117 IS - 1472-6874 (Electronic) IS - 1472-6874 (Linking) VI - 20 IP - 1 DP - 2020 May 13 TI - General and reproductive health outcomes among female greenhouse workers: a comparative study. PG - 103 LID - 10.1186/s12905-020-00966-y [doi] LID - 103 AB - BACKGROUND: Agricultural activities as well as exposure to pesticides could have many adverse effects on health status and reproductive outcomes especially in reproductive aged greenhouse workers. The present study aimed to compare the general and reproductive health outcomes between female greenhouse workers and housewives. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 645 females of reproductive age. They were categorized into two groups according to occupation in greenhouse (308 female greenhouse workers as exposed group and 337 housewives as control group). Participants were interviewed using a questionnaire about reproductive outcomes and occupational status. Clinical measures include blood pressure (BP), pulse and respiratory rate (PR and RR), body mass index (BMI) and hematological parameters. Mann-Whitney U test was used to assess differences between two groups in quantitative variables. Chi-square or Fisher's exact tests was used to determine the differences in the distribution of categorical variables. Data was analyzed using SPSS software version 16. RESULTS: The average daily working hours of the greenhouse workers were 6.94 +/- 1.99 h. Only 44.3% of them used personal protective equipment. Data revealed that the rate of spontaneous abortion, infertility, low birth weight (LBW), abnormal births and preterm birth were significantly higher among the greenhouse workers compared to the control group (p