Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on April 29, 2004
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Human Reproduction, Vol. 19, No. 6, 1331-1337,
June 2004
© 2004 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
Pesticide exposure in male farmers and survival of in vitro fertilized pregnancies
1 Department of Occupational Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, DK-8000, Aarhus, 2 Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Aarhus University Hospital, DK-8200, Aarhus, 3 The Fertility Clinic, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev, DK-2730, Herlev, 4 The Fertility Clinic, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, DK-2100, Copenhagen and 5 Danish Epidemiology Science Centre, Aarhus University, DK-8000, Aarhus, Denmark
6 To whom correspondence should be addressed at Åbyhojvej 17, DK-8210 Aarhus V, Denmark. e-mail: henrik.hjollund{at}dadlnet.dk
BACKGROUND. Male-mediated spontaneous abortion is well described among animals, but less well documented in humans. Studies that include early pregnancy experience are expensive to conduct, but IVF provides new opportunities. MATERIALS AND METHODS. The Danish IVF register covers all IVF treatments performed after 1993. We mailed a questionnaire to 5879 women (response rate 68.2%). A subgroup of exposed male partners received a questionnaire on specific exposure to pesticides and growth retardants (n = 128 men, response rate 81.3%). Information on outcome was collected from national health registers. Survival of the first HCG-positive pregnancy was analysed using Cox regression. RESULTS. The proportion of pregnancies terminated by spontaneous abortion before 28 gestational weeks was 19.7% (n = 66 pregnancies), 19.7% (n = 61), 21.3% (n = 47) and 22.2% (n = 18) in pregnancies with paternal exposure to herbicides, fungicides, pesticides and growth retardants. respectively. In the reference group of 2925 pregnancies, the abortion rate was 28.4%. The differences in survival were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS. We found no increased risk of spontaneous abortion in IVF-treated women attributable to paternal agricultural application of pesticides and growth retardants. Exposure to potentially harmful pesticides in Denmark is relatively low, and the findings are restricted to countries with similar standards of protection.
Key words: abortion/IVF/male mediated/occupation/pesticides
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