Air pollution can reduce the odds of successful IVF The odds of a live birth are 38% lower in women heavily exposed to particle pollution two weeks before her eggs are retrieved Increasing levels of particle pollution exposure caused decreasing odds of a live birth MONDAY, July 8, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure to air pollution can significantly reduce the odds of in vitro fertilization ( ) leading to a live birth, a new study says. The odds of a live birth are nearly 40% lower in women heavily exposed to particle pollution in the two weeks before her eggs were collected for IVF, compared to those with the least exposure, researchers found. “These findings 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,” lead researcher , a gynecologist with King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women in Subiaco, Australia, said in a news release.
In IVF, a woman’s eggs are fertilized with a man’s sperm in a laboratory. The resulting embryo is then transferred back into a woman to develop. For the study, researchers analyzed nearly 3,700 frozen embryo transfers from more than 1,800 patients during an eight-year period in Perth, Australia.
The study examined concentrations of air pollutants at 24 hours, two weeks, four weeks and three months prior to egg retrieval, to see how pollution might affect the success of IVF. The heaviest exposure to PM10 particulate pollutio.
