Association between ambient air pollution prior to initiation of in vitro fertilization and fertilization rates, pregnancy, and live birth
Year: 2021
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: BACKGROUND AND AIM: There is a growing body of evidence that pre-pregnancy exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with fecundity and pregnancy, however much existing evidence depends on poorly quantified exposure measures. This study uses highly resolved exposure predictions for ambient air pollution in biologically critical pre-pregnancy windows in a population undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) to estimate if air pollutants are associated with adverse IVF outcomes. METHODS: This study includes individuals initiating a first IVF cycle from 2012-2013 at one of four clinics. Participant characteristics and cycle outcomes were extracted from medical records. PM2.5, NO2, and NOx were estimated using a highly resolved city-specific spatiotemporal prediction models. Exposures were estimated for 2 and 8-week periods prior to cycle initiation representing biologically critical time periods. Outcomes evaluated included percent oocytes fertilized, embryo grade, clinical pregnancy, and live birth. Poisson and linear regression were used to evaluate binary and continuous outcomes, respectively. RESULTS:There were 4,756 eligible participants with a mean age of 35. Mean 2-week exposures were 9.5 µg/m3 for PM2.5, 9.6 ppb for NO2, and 14.5 ppb for NOx. We did not detect associations between any exposure and embryo quality, pregnancy, and live birth. Across pollutants, exposure was associated with a small but consistently lower fertilization rate. We found 0.13% (95% CI: -0.24, -0.02), 0.04% (95% CI: -0.07, -0.01), and 0.01% (95% CI: -0.02, -0.01) lower percent oocytes fertilized with a 2 µg/m3 PM2.5, 6ppb NO2, and 11ppb NOX 2-week average exposure, respectively. Results for an 8-week exposure were similar. CONCLUSIONS:These findings support recent studies which indicate a link between air pollution, fertility, and fecundity. The results of this study indicate that recent exposure to ambient air pollution may be related fecundity, though the effects seen here are not clinically relevant. Further work in characterizing this early time period is necessary. KEYWORDS: fecundity, fertility, pregnancy, air pollution
Source: ISEE Conference Abstracts
Language: English
Subfield: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W3194664291