Poisons poisoning the poisoner him/herself

[Guest guest]

Dermal Exposure to Chemotherapy Drugs Impairs Fertility in Nurses

 

Oncology nurses who are exposed through their skin to antineoplastic

drugs take longer to conceive and are at increased risk for premature

delivery, according to a report in the January issue of Epidemiology.

 

"Nine antineoplastic drugs have been classified as proven

carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on

Cancer (IARC)," Dr. Wouter Fransman told Reuters Health, Jan.

17. "Our findings show that even very low dermal exposure levels

(nanograms) can cause an elevated risk of a prolonged time to

pregnancy, premature delivery, or a low birth weight, even when

gloves are worn during work."

 

"We hope that people working with antineoplastic drugs are aware of

the potential risks of these agents," Dr. Fransman said. "We should

not scare people too much, but on the other hand we should not ignore

the potential health risks that are associated with exposure to

antineoplastic drugs. The awareness on how to safely work with these

agents and following the right protocols and regulations will

minimize exposure and hence reduce health risks."

 

Dr. Fransman from Utrecht University, The Netherlands and colleagues

used questionnaires to assess pregnancy outcomes, work-related

exposures, and lifestyle factors among 4393 oncology nurses, 1519 of

which reported dermal exposure to antineoplastic drugs during the

course of their work.

 

On average, nurses with dermal exposure to antineoplastic drugs took

one month longer than unexposed nurses to get pregnant, the authors

report.

 

Moreover, exposed nurses were twice as likely as unexposed nurses to

deliver a low birthweight child, the results indicate.

 

Dermal exposure to antineoplastic drugs also slightly increased the

risk of premature delivery, the researchers note, but there was not a

significantly increased risk of stillbirth, spontaneous abortion, or

congenital malformations.

 

Dr. Fransman commented that his group hopes to extend the study to

other countries, where exposure levels may differ. "Maybe exposure

levels in other countries are much higher, so that we can test our

hypothesis that higher exposure levels could lead to fetal loss and

congenital malformations."

 

Source: Epidemiology 2007;18:112-119.