Summary
This report describes an epidemiologic investigation of the relationship between dibromochloropropane (DBCP), contamination in drinking water and birth outcomes between 1978 and 1982 in Fresno County, California, USA. Census tracts in the county were categorized according to DBCP level in drinking water. A direct comparison between exposure categories was done by the use of the Mantel-Haenszel chi-square procedure to compute relative ratios or risks for low birth weight and birth defect, adjusting for age, race, percent Hispanic, and parity. No correlation between these birth outcomes and DBCP contamination was found. In addition, we did not find any difference in sex ratio in relation to DBCP contamination.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Blalock MH (1964) Causal inferences in nonexperimental research. New York, W.W. Norton and Company
Duncan OD, Cuzzort RP, Duncan B (1961) Statistical geography: problems in analyzing areal data. Westport, CT, Greenwood Press
Fleiss JL (1979) Confidence intervals for the odds ratio in case-control studies. The state of the art. J Chronic Dis 32:69–77
Gart JJ (1979) Statistical analysis of the relative risk. Environ Health Perspec 32:157–167
Kharrazi M, Potashnik MG, Goldsmith JR (1980) Reproductive effects of dibromochloropropane. Israeli J Med 10:403–406
Mantel N (1963) Chi-square tests with one degree of freedom: extensions of the Mantel-Haenszel procedure. JASA 58:690–700
Mantel N, Haenszel W (1959) Statistical aspects of the analysis of data from the retrospective study of disease. JNCI 22:719–748
Miettinen OS (1976) Estimability and estimation in casereferent studies. Am J Epid 103:226–235
Potasnik G, Abeliovich D (1985) Chromosomal analysis and health status of children conceived to men during or following dibromochloropropane-induced spermatogenic suppression. Andrologia 17:291–296
Potasnik G, Goldsmith J, Insler V (1984) Dibromochloropropane induced reduction of the sex-ratio in man. Andrologia 16(3):213–218
Rao KS, Burek JD, Murray FJ, John JA, Schwetz BA, Murray JS, Bell TJ, Beyer JE, Potts WJ, Parker CM (1982) Toxicologic and reproductive effects of inhaled 1,2,-dibromo-3-chloropropane in rabbits. Fund Appl Toxicol 2:241–251
Robinson WP (1950) Ecological correlations and the behavior of individuals. Am Sociol Rev 15:351–357
Stavraky KM (1976) The role of ecological analysis in studies of the etiology of disease: a discussion with reference to large bowel cancer. J Chron Dis 29:435–444
Whorton MD, Foliart DE (1983) Mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, and reproductive effects of dibromochloropropane (DBCP) Mutat Res 123:13–30
Whorton MD, Morgan RW, Wong O, Larson S, Gordon N (1988) Commentary on problems associated with collecting drinking water quality data for community studies: a case example, Fresno County. Am J Publ Health 78:47–51
Wong O, Whorton MD, Gordon N, Morgan RW (1988) An epidemiologic investigation of the relationship between DBCP contamination in drinking water and birth rates in Fresno County. Am J Publ Health 78:43–46
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Donald Whorton, M., Wong, O., Morgan, R.W. et al. An epidemiologic investigation of birth outcomes in relation to dibromochloropropane contamination in drinking water in Fresno County, California, USA. Int Arch Occup Environ Heath 61, 403–407 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00381032
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00381032