A pioneering study, presented today at the ESHRE 40 th Annual Meeting in Amsterdam, has revealed that exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) prior to the retrieval of oocytes (eggs) during in vitro fertilization (IVF) can reduce the odds of achieving a live birth by almost 40%. The study analyzed PM 10 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/m 3 ) to the lowest quartile (7.08 to 12.
92 μg/m 3 ). Conducted over an eight-year period in Perth, Australia, the research analyzed 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 examined air pollutant concentrations over four exposure periods prior to oocyte retrieval (24 hours, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 3 months), with models created to account for co-exposures.
Increasing PM 2.5 exposure in the 3 months prior to oocyte retrieval was also associated with decreased odds of live birth, falling from 0.90 (95% CI 0.
70-1.15) in the second quartile to 0.66 (95% CI 0.
47-0.92) in the fourth quartile. Importantly, the negative impact of air pollution was observed despite excellent overall air quality during the study period, with PM 10 and PM 2.
5 levels exceeding WHO guidelines on just 0.4% and 4.5% of the study days, respectively.
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