Female ophthalmologists’ perception of occupational hazards during pregnancy

Objective

Woman ophthalmologists of childbearing age are exposed to different types of occupational risks which can be harmful to pregnancy and to the development of the fetus. The objective of this paper is to analyze the perception of these risks during pregnancy.

Methods

We designed a survey which was answered by 42 ophthalmologists who had been working during pregnancy. We report the perception of global and specific risk according to the type of agent.

Results

38.1% of the ophthalmologists perceive that the overall risk of working during pregnancy is high, and 35.7% consider it moderate. Regarding specific risk, the most relevant agents are the ergonomic and psychosocial ones. Physical agents are considered the least important.

Conclusions

Although most of the surveyed ophthalmologists perceived the occupational risk as high or moderate, only 19% of them took time off work due to this reason. The most important agents were ergonomic and psychosocial.