Infertility Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Infertility, including details on male and female infertility, treatment, causes, pregnancy.

Sidestream smoking is equally as damaging as mainstream smoking on IVF outcomes.

Neal MS, Hughes EG, Holloway AC, Foster WG

Reproductive Biology Division, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. nealm@hhsc.ca

BACKGROUND: Cigarette smoking (CS) is a widely recognized health hazard, yet it remains prevalent in society and the effects of environmental tobacco smoke exposure on fertility are unknown. Our objective was to measure the effects of CS on the fertility of mainstream (MS) or sidestream (SS) smoke-exposed women compared to their non-smoking (NS) counterparts. METHODS: This retrospective study investigated 225 female patients undergoing IVF (n = 97) or ICSI (n = 128). Patients were grouped based on their smoking status for comparison. This included: 39 MS (18 IVF and 21 ICSI); 40 SS (16 IVF and 24 ICSI); and 146 NS (63 IVF and 83 ICSI) women. Fertility treatment outcomes including embryo quality, implantation and pregnancy rate were measured. RESULTS: No difference in embryo quality between the three groups was observed. However, there was a significant difference in implantation rate (MS = 12.0%, SS = 12.6%, and NS = 25.0%) and pregnancy rate (MS = 19.4%, SS = 20.0%, and NS = 48.3%) per embryo transfer. CONCLUSIONS: Despite similar embryo quality there was a striking difference in implantation and pregnancy rates of MS and SS smokers when compared with NS. Our data demonstrate that the effects of SS smoking are equally as damaging as MS smoke on fertility.

Published 11 August 2005 in Hum Reprod, 20(9): 2531-5.
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