Skip Navigation



Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on March 10, 2005
Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/humrep/deh680
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF ) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
20/7/1793    most recent
deh680v1
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hjollund, N.H.
Right arrow Articles by Olsen, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hjollund, N.H.
Right arrow Articles by Olsen, J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Human Reproduction © European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology 2005; all rights reserved
Received June 25, 2004
Accepted November 25, 2004

Article

Spontaneous abortion in IVF couples--a role of male welding exposure

N.H. Hjollund 1*, J.P. Bonde 1, E. Ernst 2, S. Lindenberg 3, A.N. Andersen 4, and J. Olsen 5

1 Department of Occupational Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, DK-8000, Aarhus, Denmark
2 Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Aarhus University Hospital, DK-8200, Aarhus, Denmark
3 The Fertility Clinic, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev, DK-2730, Herlev, Denmark
4 The Fertility Clinic, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, DK-2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
5 Danish Epidemiology Science Centre, Aarhus University, DK-8000, Aarhus, Denmark

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
N.H. Hjollund, E-mail: nhh{at}ag.aaa.dk


  Abstract

BACKGROUND: Fume from welding of stainless steel contains hexavalent chromium, which in animal studies can induce paternally mediated spontaneous abortion. Human studies have shown conflicting results. The best studies include early pregnancy experience, but these are expensive to conduct. In vitro fertilization (IVF) provides new design opportunities. Our aim was to study pregnancy survival in IVF treated women with respect to paternal welding exposure. METHODS: We mailed a questionnaire to 5879 couples from the Danish IVF register that covers all IVF treatments after 1993 (response ratio 68.2%). A subgroup of male metal workers received a second questionnaire on exposure to welding (n=319 men, response ratio 77%). 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 18% (n=91 pregnancies) and 25% (n=128) in pregnancies with paternal exposure to stainless steel welding and mild steel welding, respectively. In the reference group of 2925 pregnancies the abortion ratio was 28%. The risk ratio for pregnancies with paternal exposure to stainless steel was 0.6 (95% CI 0.4-1.0). CONCLUSIONS: We found no increased risk of spontaneous abortion in IVF treated women, who became pregnant by a man exposed to welding of any sort. Since the process of fertilization and selection of IVF pregnancies differs from natural pregnancies the negative results need not apply to other pregnancies.

Keywords: IVF; miscarriage; paternal occupational exposure; pregnancy survival; welding.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Hum ReprodHome page
A. Borini, N. Tarozzi, D. Bizzaro, M.A. Bonu, L. Fava, C. Flamigni, and G. Coticchio
Sperm DNA fragmentation: paternal effect on early post-implantation embryo development in ART
Hum. Reprod., November 1, 2006; 21(11): 2876 - 2881.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Hum Reprod UpdateHome page
J. Olsen, J.P. Bonde, N.H. Hjollund, O. Basso, and E. Ernst
Using infertile patients in epidemiologic studies on subfecundity and embryonal loss
Hum. Reprod. Update, November 1, 2005; 11(6): 607 - 611.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.