Video Display Terminals and the Risk of Spontaneous Abortion

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 324; no. 11; pp. 727 - 733
• Main Authors: Schnorr, Teresa M, Grajewski, Barbara A, Hornung, Richard W, Thun, Michael J, Egeland, Grace M, Murray, William E, Conover, David L, Halperin, William E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, MA Massachusetts Medical Society 14.03.1991
• Subjects: Abortion; Abortion, Spontaneous - etiology; Adult; Alcohol; Biological and medical sciences; Births; Cohort Studies; Computer Terminals; Diseases of mother, fetus and pregnancy; displays; Electromagnetic Fields; Electromagnetism; Epidemiology; Female; Fetal Death; Fetuses; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; hazards; Health risk assessment; Humans; Interviews; Logistic Models; Medical sciences; Occupational Exposure; Occupational safety; Pregnancy; Pregnancy. Fetus. Placenta; Prenatal development; Public health; Regression Analysis; risk assessment; Risk Factors; spontaneous abortions; Stillbirth; Studies; VDTs; Video display terminals; Women; Womens health; Work stations; Human; Pregnancy disorders; Risk factor; Computer; Female; Abortion; Public health
• ISSN: 0028-4793; 1533-4406
• DOI: 10.1056/NEJM199103143241104

CONCERN about the potential reproductive effects of using video display terminals (VDTs) was first raised in 1980, when adverse pregnancy outcomes among several clusters of women who used VDTs were reported. 1 2 3 4 5 Most subsequent epidemiologic analyses of the use of VDTs and pregnancy outcome had equivocal results or found no effect. 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Two studies found a significantly increased risk of spontaneous abortion among women who used VDTs more than 15 hours 15 or more than 20 hours 16 per week. Only a few studies were initially designed to investigate the effects of VDTs on reproduction. 11 12 13 All the studies estimated the extent of VDT use . . .