Numerous scientific studies have warned us about how environmental pollution affects our physical well-being, and especially the respiratory system: lung cancer, pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), among others, would be related to this problem . In fact, some experts explain that being exposed to poor quality air is just as bad for us as smoking multiple cigarettes a day.
Researchers believe that if pollution were reduced, we could save millions of lives – the World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that more than seven million deaths a year occur in the world due to pollution – but it is that In addition, according to a recent study, this unhealthy air could also be affecting the fertility of women.
Specifically, to the ovarian reserve, which is the amount of eggs a woman has at a certain point in her life and which is decisive in determining her chances of achieving pregnancy – it is a marker of female fertility. According to this research, the ovarian reserve is adversely affected by high levels of air pollution.
The ORExPo study took as a sample more than 1,300 Italian women, all of them residing in the Modena area between 2007 and 2017, and has found evidence that numerous environmental chemical compounds, as well as natural and artificial components of the daily diet, can alter the physiological role of hormones and interfere with their activity. This research specifically talks about the antimullerian hormone or AMH, secreted by the follicles of the ovary and that allows to measure the ovarian reserve of women.
“The influence of age and smoking on AMH levels is now widely accepted,” explains Professor Antonio La Marca, from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, and one of the main authors of the study. “However, so far no clear effect of environmental factors has been demonstrated,” he adds.
Geolocated patients
These researchers took all measurements of serum AMH levels and linked them to the age and address in which the participants lived. The analysis was completed with environmental data from these areas. When evaluating the environmental exposure of the patients, particulate matter (PM) – a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets that we find in the air and is part of the pollution – and nitrogen dioxide values ( NO2) – atmospheric pollutant produced by burning fuel.
The results showed that, as expected, serum AMH levels beyond 25 years of age were strongly related to age – older, worse data. But the researchers found that they were also significantly and inversely related to the pollutants defined as PM10, PM2.5 and NO2, and this association was independent of the age of the women. Which, according to Professor La Marca, “confirms that, regardless of age, the higher the level of PM and NO2, the lower the serum concentration of AMH ”.
The lowest antimullerian hormone concentration, reflecting the “severe reduction in ovarian reserve”, was measured in women who were exposed to PM10, PM2.5, and NO2 levels greater than 29.5, 22, and 26 mcg / m3 , respectively. And that these are values that are well below the limits recommended by the EU and local authorities – stipulated at 40, 25 and 40 mcg / m3, respectively.
