The Risk of Having a Low Birth Weight or Preterm Infant among Cosmetologists in New York State

Objectives This study sought to determine if female licensed cosmetologists have a higher risk of low birth weight, small-for-gestational-age, and preterm delivery compared to two different comparison groups. Methods This retrospective cohort study matched 15,003 licensed cosmetologists and a comparison group of 4,246 licensed realtors to birth records in New York State from 1997 to 2003. A second comparison group from the general population of New York State (n = 12,171) was frequency matched to cosmetologists on child’s year of birth, mother’s ethnicity and mother’s education. Results A positive association was found for low birth weight when comparing cosmetologists to realtors (adjusted odds ratio 1.36 (95% confidence interval: 1.09, 1.70)). Associations were stronger in non-whites than in whites in each birth weight comparison. Associations observed for small-for-gestational-age or preterm births with either comparison group were close to the null or had wide confidence intervals that included the null. Conclusions We observed a slightly increased risk for having a child born low birth weight among cosmetologists compared to another group of licensed professionals. The risk was greater among non-white races in each comparison.