A study confirms that pollution impacts fertility, but men are more affected by air pollution and women by noise.
- Air pollution is associated with a higher risk of infertility in men.
- Noise pollution is the biggest problem for female fertility, according to a new study.
- For researchers, it is essential to know precisely which environmental pollutants affect human fertility.
Heart, brain, lungs… environmental pollution puts your body under strain. The same goes for your fertility.
However, a Danish study provides some clarification on this subject. Fine particles present in the air are associated with an increased risk of infertility for men while traffic noise is linked to an increased risk of infertility in women.
The results are detailed in the review BMJ.
Fertility: men and women are not affected by the same pollution
To get a clearer picture of the effect of different types of pollution on fertility, the researchers looked at the records of 377,850 women and 526,056 men aged between 30 and 45. These people had fewer than two children and were living with a partner in Denmark between 2000 and 2017. During the 18-year study, 16,157 men and 22,672 women were diagnosed with infertility.
The team also made estimates of participants’ exposure to air and noise pollution during this period based on their address.
By analyzing all the data collected, scientists noticed that the risk of infertility was 24% higher for men exposed to a level of fine particles (PM2.5) 1.6 times higher than what was recommended by the WHO.
While female infertility was not associated with air pollution, noise did appear to be a problem. Living with traffic noise levels 10.2 decibels higher than average (55 to 60 decibels) over 5 years was associated with a 14% increased risk of infertility for women over 35. This increased risk was not observed in those aged 30 to 35. However, some men were also affected by traffic noise. A slight increase in the risk of male infertility was observed in those aged 37 to 45.
Infertility: the pollutants involved must be identified
The researchers acknowledge that further work is needed to corroborate their findings. However, they say it is crucial to know which environmental pollutants affect fertility as “Many Western countries are facing declining birth rates and increasing maternal age at first birth.”
“If our results are confirmed in future studies, this suggests that policy implementation of air and noise pollution mitigation measures could be an important tool for improving birth rates in the Western world.”they conclude in their article.
