Study Finds Air Pollution Can Decrease Chances Of Live Birth After IVF
According to a new study, exposure to air pollution can significantly decrease the likelihood of live birth after IVF treatment. The study’s research has been ongoing to observe the negative health impacts of toxic air on fertility.
Exposure to pollutants in the air has been previously linked to increased miscarriage rates, preterm births, and the presence of microscopic soot particles in the bloodstream, ovaries, and the placenta, according to reports from The Guardian.
“We observed that the odds of having a baby after a frozen embryo transfer were more than a third lower for women who were exposed to the highest levels of particulate matter air pollution prior to egg collection, compared with those exposed to the lowest levels,” said Dr Sebastian Leathersich, a fertility specialist and gynecologist from Perth.
Dr. Leathersich is also set to present the study findings on Monday at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology annual meeting in Amsterdam.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that air pollution is currently one of the leading threats to human health in general, and has caused 6.7 million deaths in 2019.
“Pollution is harmful to almost all aspects of human health and it’s no surprise to me that reproductive health is also affected,” Leathersich said.
“I’m hopeful that these findings will help to highlight the urgency of the situation – that climate change poses a serious and immediate threat to human reproductive health, even at so-called safe levels.”
“These findings [also] suggest that pollution negatively affects the quality of the eggs, not just the early stages of pregnancy, which is a distinction that has not been previously reported,” Leathersich said.
Professor Jonathan Grigg led a group at Queen Mary University of London which uncovered evidence that air pollution particles are found in the placenta.
“This study is biologically plausible since it has recently been discovered that inhaled fossil-fuel particles move out of the lung and lodge in organs around the body. Reproductive health can now be added to expanding list of the adverse effects of fossil fuel-derived particulate matter, and should prompt policymakers to continue to reduce traffic emissions.”
“In the face of a global fertility crisis, a clear picture of the link between environmental factors such as air pollution and fertility health or treatment outcomes could play an important part in tackling falling fertility rates,” said Professor Geeta Nargund, a senior NHS consultant and medical director of abc IVF and Create Fertility.
She also said that “further work would be crucial to better understand the full impact of air pollution, which disproportionately affects those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
