Air Pollution Lowers Success Rate of IVF

Air pollution is not related to pulmonary risks and other diseases only, but is according to latest studies responsible for lowering the success rate of IVF birth. The study was published in Human reproduction, and conducted by a team of scientists from Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. The research group examined the outcomes of the first pregnancy attempt of more than 7 hundred women that underwent IVF, and the observations were gathered over the period from 2000 to 2007.

A study that was researching effects of air quality on assisted human reproduction found that exposure to an increased level of air pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide, has been associated with lower likelihood of successful pregnancy and lowers the chance of among women having a baby in women trying to conceive through in vitro fertilization. Nitrogen dioxide is an air pollutant that is produced by vehicle exhaust, burning of fossil fuels and diesel engine combustion, which is of course very common air pollutant in cities. This pollutant as said above lowers the success rate of conceiving through IVF.

Other studies have linked exposure to air pollution to preterm birth, low birth weight, and also lower IQ scores in newborns. Exposure to other relatively common air pollutants include ozone, which may cause lowered the success of having a baby after embryo implantation in the womb. On the other hand, increased exposure to the ozone air pollutant around the time of ovulation improves the chance of conceiving. Scientists explain that air pollution causes inflammation in the body and that increases the production of free radicals. The production of cell-damaging oxygen-free radicals causes an increased risk of developing blood cloths, which of course may result in miscarriage. It is important to bring out that the real exposure to Nitrogen dioxide is relatively subtle.