Drugs that are used for chemotherapy may increase time to conceive and elevate the risk of premature delivery.
Fransman from Utrecht University in Netherlands along with colleagues used questionnaires to review pregnancy results, work-related exposures, and lifestyle factors among 4,393 oncology nurses, 1,519 of whom reported skin exposure to cancer drugs during the course of their work.
On an average, nurses with skin exposure to chemotherapy drugs took one month longer than unexposed nurses to get pregnant.
It also pointed out that exposed nurses were more likely to deliver low birth weight babies in comparison with unexposed children.
Skin exposure to chemotherapy drugs also slightly increased the risk of premature delivery but there was no considerably increased risk of stillbirth, miscarriage, or congenital malformations.
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