Air pollution linked to a decrease in IVF birth rate success
A pioneering study, presented today at the ESHRE 40th Annual Meeting in Amsterdam, has revealed that exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) prior to the retrieval of oocytes (eggs) during in vitro fertilisation (IVF) can reduce the odds of achieving a live birth by almost 40% [1]. The study analysed PM10 exposure in the two weeks leading up to oocyte collection, finding that the odds of a live birth decreased by 38% (OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.43-0.89, p=0.010) when comparing the highest quartile of exposure (18.63 to 35.42 µg/m3) to the lowest quartile (7.08 to 12.92 µg/m3). Conducted over an eight-year period in Perth, Australia, the research analysed 3,659 frozen embryo transfers from 1,836 patients. The median female age was 34.5 years at the time of oocyte retrieval and 36.1 years at the time of frozen embryo transfer. The study…
