Health outcomes of children born to cosmetologists compared to children of women in other occupations.

The purpose of the study was to examine the health of children born to cosmetologists compared to the health of children of women working in other occupations. Cross-sectional data were analyzed from 319 cosmetologists and 366 women in other occupations aged 21 to 55 years who reported at least one live birth. Repeated-measures modeling was used to account for lack of independence among multiple pregnancies per participant. The results showed that cosmetologist occupation was associated with having a child with a learning disorder; however, the strength of this association was attenuated and the odds ratio was not statistically significant after confounder adjustment. Cosmetologist occupation was not associated with other adverse health outcomes among the children born to women in such an occupation, including urinary/kidney health problems. The findings indicate that cosmetologists are not at increased risk of having a child with medical problems compared to women in other occupations. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.