Smokers, Non-smokers Living with Smokers Have Similar Rates of Pregnancy Using Fertility Treatments, Study Says

Main Category: Fertility
Article Date: 30 May 2005 - 0:00 PDT

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Women seeking fertility treatment who smoke or live with someone who smokes are about half as likely to become pregnant than nonsmokers seeking fertility treatment, according to a study published in the May 26 online issue of the journal... Human Reproduction, the AP/MSNBC.com reports (AP/MSNBC.com, 5/25). Michael Neal, a doctoral candidate in reproductive toxicology, and colleagues from the reproductive biology division at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, studied 225 women who had undergone in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatments (Branswell, CP/Canada.com, 5/27). Thirty-nine of the women were smokers, 40 were nonsmokers who lived with a smoker, and 146 were nonsmokers living in a nonsmoking household. The smokers smoked an average of 11 cigarettes per day. Although there was no significant difference in the quality of the embryos created using the eggs of the women in the three different groups, the pregnancy rate per embryo transfer was significantly lower among smokers and nonsmokers living with smokers. The women who lived in a nonsmoking household had a 48% pregnancy rate per embryo transfer, compared with a 20% pregnancy rate among nonsmokers living with smokers and a 19% rate among smoking women, according to the study (AP/MSNBC.com, 5/25). In addition, the embryo implantation rate per transfer was significantly greater for the nonsmokers than for smokers and nonsmokers living with smokers. The implantation rate among nonsmokers was 25%, compared with 12% and 12.6% among smokers and second-hand smokers, respectively (Neal et al., Human Reproduction, 5/26).

Reaction, Recommendation
"Although we do need a prospective confirmatory study, the findings from our study warrant a warning to women to reduce or, if possible, prevent exposure to cigarette smoking, especially if they are trying to conceive," Warren Foster, a McMaster professor and co-author of the study, said (Reuters AlertNet, 5/25). However, James Grifo, director of reproductive endocrinology at the New York University School of Medicine, said the findings in the study might not be accurate because the data were based on retrospective information provided by women. "Patients who don't get pregnant tend to remember more negative things than patients who do get pregnant," Grifo, who was not involved with the study, said, adding, "It could just be that the women who didn't get pregnant remembered more smoking around them" (AP/MSNBC.com, 5/25).

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/repro The Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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