New study Particulate matter lowers male fertility, noise lowers female fertility
Why doesn't it work out with the hoped-for baby? Couples and scientists are asking themselves this question. A Danish study has shown that particulate matter damages male fertility and noise damages female fertility.
18.10.2024, 06:30
18.10.2024, 11:05
SDA
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- Particulate matter is more harmful to male fertility than female fertility.
- Noise at home reduces female fertility more than that of men.
- A Danish study has identified gender-specific factors that make pregnancies less likely.
- Every seventh couple worldwide is confronted with infertility.
Infertility affects one in seven couples worldwide who wish to have children. Numerous factors are being discussed as causes. Danish scientists have now identified possible gender-specific reasons.
For example, several years of exposure to particulate matter is likely to affect male fertility, whereas exposure to noise affects women. Infertility is defined as failure to conceive after one year of regular sexual contact without contraception.
Especially since the 1980s, the use of various reproductive medical techniques has increased significantly. More than ten million children have been born as a result," wrote Mette Sorensen from the Danish Cancer Institute (Copenhagen) and her co-authors recently in the prestigious British Medical Journal.
The known factors
Most of the recognized risk factors for infertility are the same for both men and women: increasing age (fertility declines rapidly in women after the age of 30), tobacco consumption, alcohol, obesity, sexually transmitted diseases and severe underweight. Various environmental factors such as air pollution, pesticides and radiation exposure have also been suspected.
As part of the scientific study, the Danish scientists focused on two environmental factors that have rarely been mentioned in this context to date: Particulate matter and noise pollution in the living environment.
They extracted data from a Danish register on 526,056 men and 377,850 women aged between 30 and 45 and with fewer than two children in partnerships between 2000 and 2017. The place of residence was included in the analysis along with the local particulate matter pollution (particle size smaller than 2.5 micrometers) and the local noise levels.
Particulate matter has no clear effect on women
The results indicate a different significance of the two risk factors for men and women. The scientists explain: "Over an average period of up to 4.3 years, infertility was diagnosed in 16,172 men and 22,672 women. An average increase in particulate matter (PM2.5) over five years was strongly associated with an increased risk of infertility by a factor of 1.24 in men aged between 30 and 36.9 years and between 37 and 45 years (...)."
The curve increased fairly consistently with particulate matter pollution, as a graph clearly shows. No such association was found for noise pollution among men overall, but to a lesser extent among older people (37 to 45 years).
Female fertility suffers more from noise
On the other hand, particulate matter apparently had no clear effect on women. However, long-term exposure to traffic noise at the place of residence with an average higher noise level of plus 10.2 decibels had a 14 percent higher risk of infertility in women. However, this was only noticeable in the over 35 age group.
"If these results can be confirmed by future studies, they could help decision-makers to take countermeasures and set appropriate priorities to protect the general population from these exposures," the scientists stated in their concluding statement.
