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- Title
Air pollution and fecundability: Results from a Danish preconception cohort study.
- Authors
Wesselink, Amelia K.; Wang, Tanran R.; Ketzel, Matthias; Mikkelsen, Ellen M.; Brandt, Jørgen; Khan, Jibran; Hertel, Ole; Laursen, Anne Sofie D.; Johannesen, Benjamin R.; Willis, Mary D.; Levy, Jonathan I.; Rothman, Kenneth J.; Sørensen, Henrik T.; Wise, Lauren A.; Hatch, Elizabeth E.
- Abstract
<bold>Background: </bold>Animal and epidemiologic studies indicate that air pollution may adversely affect fertility. Epidemiologic studies have been restricted largely to couples undergoing fertility treatment or have retrospectively ascertained time-to-pregnancy among pregnant women.<bold>Objectives: </bold>We examined the association between residential ambient air pollution and fecundability, the per-cycle probability of conception, in a large preconception cohort of Danish pregnancy planners.<bold>Methods: </bold>During 2007-2018, we used the Internet to recruit and follow women who were trying to conceive without the use of fertility treatment. Participants completed an online baseline questionnaire eliciting socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle factors, and medical and reproductive histories and follow-up questionnaires every 8 weeks to ascertain pregnancy status. We determined concentrations of ambient nitrogen oxides (NOx ), nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3 ), particulate matter <2.5 µm (PM2.5 ) and <10 µm (PM10 ), and sulphur dioxide (SO2 ) at each participant's residential address. We calculated average exposure during the year before baseline, during each menstrual cycle over follow-up and during the entire pregnancy attempt time. We used proportional probabilities regression models to estimate fecundability ratios (FRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), adjusting for potential confounders and co-pollutants. The analysis was restricted to the 10,183 participants who were trying to conceive for <12 cycles at study entry whose addresses could be geocoded.<bold>Results: </bold>During 12 months of follow-up, 73% of participants conceived. Higher concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 were associated with small reductions in fecundability. For example, the FRs for a one interquartile range (IQR) increase in PM2.5 (IQR = 3.2 µg/m3 ) and PM10 (IQR = 5.3 µg/m3 ) during each menstrual cycle were 0.93 (95% CI: 0.87, 0.99) and 0.91 (95% CI: 0.84, 0.99), respectively. Other air pollutants were not appreciably associated with fecundability.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>In this preconception cohort study of Danish women, residential exposures to PM2.5 and PM10 were associated with reduced fecundability.
- Publication
Paediatric & Perinatal Epidemiology, 2022, Vol 36, Issue 1, p57
- ISSN
0269-5022
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1111/ppe.12832