[Occupational factors in parents and morbidity in their children]

Nonspecific resistance and the incidence of allergic diseases were studied in children living in areas with varying ambient air pollution, whose parents were exposed before conception to deleterious occupational factors at chemical and petrochemical enterprises. Nonspecific resistance was found to reduce drastically in children of female workers of chemical and petrochemical enterprises. In the children of female workers of the above enterprises, the incidence of allergic diseases was significantly higher (p < 0.01) than that in the control group. The findings suggest that environmental factors (ambient air pollution, occupational harms in parents) exert a substantial influence on a rise in the incidence of allergic diseases in children.