Air pollution is linked to increased risk of infertility in men and traffic noise to increased risk of infertility in women
A new study has found that long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) is linked to an increased risk of infertility in men. Noise pollution was also linked to an increased risk of infertility in women. The study was led by researchers at Nord Universitet in Denmark and published in the journal BMJ. The study highlights a major health problem, infertility, which affects one in seven couples.
For the study, researchers looked at whether long-term exposure to road traffic noise and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), a particular form of air pollution, was associated with an increased risk of infertility in men and women.
The study found that long-term exposure to PM2.5 is associated with an increased risk of infertility in men, and exposure to road traffic noise levels 10.2 decibels higher than average increased the risk of infertility among women over 35 years of age.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from 526,056 men and 377,850 women aged 30 to 45 who had fewer than two children, were cohabiting or married, and who had lived in Denmark between 2000 and 2017. Part of this data also included people who were actively trying to get pregnant. The researchers excluded sterilized men and women who had undergone surgery to prevent pregnancy. The average amount of PM2.5 pollution was recorded at each participant’s address, and infertility diagnoses were recorded from the national patient registry between 1995 and 2017.
Researchers diagnosed infertility in 16,172 men and 22,672 women. A report published in The Guardian indicates that after adjusting for factors such as income, educational level and occupation, exposure to PM2.5 levels 2.9 micrograms per cubic metre above average for five years was found to be associated with a 24% increased risk of infertility in men aged between 30 and 45.
Exposure to road traffic noise levels 10.2 decibels above average for five years was associated with a 14% increased risk of infertility among women aged 35 years or older, while among women aged 30 to 35 years, noise was not associated with infertility.
The researchers said: “Based on a national cohort, designed to include a high proportion of people actively trying to achieve pregnancy, we found that PM2.5 was associated with an increased risk of infertility diagnosis among men and road traffic noise was associated with an increased risk of infertility diagnosis among women aged 35 years or older and possibly among men aged 37 years or older.
“At a time when many Western countries are facing declining birth rates and an increasing age of mothers at the birth of their first child, it is crucial to understand the environmental pollutants that affect fertility. If our results are confirmed in future studies, this would indicate that political implementation of measures to mitigate air and noise pollution may be an important tool to improve birth rates in the Western world.”
(With contributions from agencies)
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