Socioeconomic status and the risk of congenital heart malformations in Lithuania

Abstract

Introduction: In Western societies social inequalities in health are determined by the occupational position. The objective of our study was to investigate the differences in congenital heart malformations ‘risk among women according to their occupational position in Lithuania, the country after transition. Methods: We conducted a population-based case-control study of newborns in Kaunas in 1999–2005. We compared 198 cases of congenital heart malformations with 643 controls with regard to information on socioeconomic characteristics, reproductive and medical history, etc. obtained by questionnaire. We performed the logistic regression analysis for the calculations of OR for women in different occupational position adjusting for age, marital status, medical history, residential air pollution exposure. Results: Our results indicated that blue-collar workers and housewives had an increased risk for the development of congenital heart malformationsEnvironmental exposure (OR = 3.67; 95% CI 2.27–5.93 and OR= 1.81; 95% CI 1.20–2.71, respectively) as compared to white-collar workers. The analysis of women in different occupational categories indicated that non-manual and manual workers had increased risk for congenital heart malformations (OR = 2.49; 95% PI 1.74–3.57 and OR= 4.23; 95% PI 1.61–11.11, respectively) as compared to professionals. Conclusions: The variances in congenital heart malformations ‘risk among women in different occupational position might be explained by attitudes, life style and psychosocial factors, occupational exposures, work and rest balance.