Exposure to organic solvents and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy

The present investigation compares the frequency of adverse pregnancy complications and outcomes in 90 women who worked with various organic solvents during pregnancy and in 180 unexposed matched (2:1) subjects. Solvent-exposed women were approximately four times more likely to develop preeclampsia, a disorder of pregnancy characterized by hypertension, edema, and proteinuria (unconditional adjusted RR = 3.9, 95% CI = 2.5, 5.4). That hypertension alone, without edema or proteinuria, was also more likely to be reported in solvent-exposed women (unconditional adjusted RR = 3.0, 95% CI = 0.9, 9.9) lent additional support to the association of solvent exposure and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Because preeclampsia is thought to be associated primarily with glomerular lesions, our findings, although in need of replication with a larger sample size, may be biologically plausible given the growing literature associating solvent exposure with renal disease. Solvent-exposed women were more likely to have cardiovascular complications and to deliver by cesarean section; however, given the specific type of complications and reason for cesarean, it is unlikely that these findings were directly related to solvent exposure. Other pregnancy complications such as threatened abortion and vaginal bleeding, and poor neonatal growth and maturity, were not more common in the exposed group.