The study, published online in advance of print in the Occupational and Environmental Medicine, finds female veterinarians run twice the risk of other women for miscarriage as a result of occupational exposures.

Female veterinarians who used pesticides during the course of their work were twice as likely to miscarry as those who did not use them, the University of Western Australia researchers say.

Those who do surgery and are exposed for one hour or more a week to anesthetic gases not filtered out of the atmosphere are almost 2.5 times more likely to miscarry.

Veterinarians who perform more than five X-rays a week were around 80 percent more likely to miscarry than those performing fewer procedures, the researchers say.

The study is based on a survey of 1,200 women, who graduated from Australian veterinary schools from 1960 to 2000 -- involving 1,355 pregnancies, 940 of which occurred while working in clinical practice.

Women of childbearing age in veterinary practice "should be fully informed of the possible reproductive effects of ionizing radiation, unscavenged anesthetic gases and exposure to pesticides," the study authors say in a statement.