[Experience of epidemiological surveillance of reproductive health in women employed in the health field].

Aim of this paper is to describe the methodology adopted to build up an epidemiological surveillance system on the reproductive health of women employed by the Regional Health System (Hospital Division). The implementation of this system required the set up of a relational database, with personal and health data collected from the 1st January 1998 to the 31st December 1998. The goals of research were: to describe the phenomenon of unfavorable reproductive events such as: death at birth, low weight at birth, birth defects, spontaneous abortions, voluntary abortions (for reasons linked to the child's and the pregnant woman's health), premature births and post term births; to provide the basis for further analytical studies on working activities with exposures of particular interest (antiblastic drugs, ionizing radiations and ergonomic factors); to contribute to evaluate the state of enforcement of the specific legislation. We computed raw, age-specific and standardized rates of the studied population as far as natality, spontaneous and voluntary abortivity and birth defects are concerned. The results showed an increased number of spontaneous abortions. Investigations are still in progress and an estimate of risks associated with chemical and physical exposures in this sector will be determined.