Human Reproduction, Vol. 16, No. 12, 2697-2704,
December 2001
© 2001 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
Regional differences in waiting time to pregnancy among fertile couples from four European cities
1 Department of Growth and Reproduction, section GR-5064, Rigshospitalet, The Juliane Marie Centre, Blegdamsvej 9, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark, 2 Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, Imperial College of Medicine at St Mary's, Norfolk Place, London W21PG, UK, 3 INSERM U292, Research in Public Health, Hôpital de Bicêtre, 82 rue du Général Leclerc, Fr-94276 Le Kremlin-Bicêtre Cedex, France, 4 University of Turku, Institute of Biomedicine, Kiinamyllynkatu 10, FIN-20520 Turku, Finland, 5 MRC Reproductive Biology Unit, Centre for Reproductive Biology, 37 Chalmers Street, Edinburgh EH3 9ET, UK, 6 Université Paris V, Groupe Hospitalier Cochin, 123 Boulevard de Port-Royal, FR-75014 Paris, France, 7 University of Turku, Department of Physiology and Department of Paediatrics, Turku, Finland and 8 Department of Biostatistics, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3, DK-2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
BACKGROUND: A previous European study found a longer time to pregnancy (TTP) among fertile women from Paris compared with women from other Western European countries. A co-ordinated, cross-sectional study of pregnant couples from Denmark (Copenhagen), France (Paris), Scotland (Edinburgh) and Finland (Turku) was therefore undertaken to assess differences in waiting TTP among couples from these cities. METHODS: Pregnant women were invited to participate when they showed up for their first antenatal visit in one of the four centres. Inclusion criteria included that their partner was 20–45 years of age and born in the country in which he was currently living and that the pregnancy was achieved without fertility treatment. Both partners filled in a questionnaire and the man underwent a physical examination and delivered a semen sample (Turku: n = 237, Copenhagen: n = 302, Edinburgh: n = 212, Paris: n = 191). RESULTS: French couples had a decreased probability of conception compared with couples from the other three countries, although only after adjustment for confounders. No significant differences between couples from the three other countries were found. CONCLUSION: The observed geographical differences in TTP remain unexplained and were not due to differences in semen quality, but may be caused by varying exposures to environmental factors or psychological distress. In addition, selection bias due to the low participation rates cannot be ruled out. Future studies examining the causes for geographical differences in TTP are needed.
Key words: environmental health/fertility/population surveillance/pregnancy rate/time factors
9 To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tkjensen{at}health.sdu.uk
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