Apparently, August and September are the months where the most babies are born (yes, you can rely on Air Aware for the best data insights!) So we thought we’d look at how air pollution affects fertility and pregnancy.
When we first started to read up on air pollution, we went through a process probably similar to many: ok, I get that air pollution affects lungs and throat - that makes sense; ah so it affects the heart too, yep I can see that if particulates are moving around the bloodstream; the brain too? gosh - but yes, same principle… Now we are at the point of reading about the impact on mood, behaviour, fertility, type 2 diabetes and many other things and trying to get our heads around it.
Hard to conceive of
On fertility, it has been known for some time that there are impacts on male fertility due to reduction of sperm mobility and potentially other problems. However, understanding about the impact on female fertility is fairly new.
A groundbreaking study came out recently looking at the difference in live IVF births where the mother has been exposed to higher particulate matter pollution. This concluded that the difference could be a shocking 38%. Our understanding is that this can be generalised beyond IVF births - the study used this cohort in order to pinpoint the affects of air pollution, but the conclusions would be the same for ‘natural’ conceptions.
From the tiniest seed
After conception, the developing foetus can be severely impacted by air pollution, with fine particulate matter able to cross over the placenta. This can lead to a range of problems including reduced growth, pre-term births and sadly even miscarriages and stillbirths. And the effect on the mother can be large too, especially as pregnant women breathe a higher volume of air. The impacts can include gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia and others.
These stark facts come to life in this documentary from Mongolia, which also follows newborns into infancy. Friend of this blog, Agnes Agyepong has done great work raising the awareness of these effects in London and beyond. And for more links and details, see our Air Aware Labs article.
Shocked? So are we. There are things you can do this Autumn to keep air pollution high on the agenda:
Asthma and Lung UK are holding an art exhibition in Kensington on 31 August. We will try to get there before it closes!
International Clean Air Day is on 7 September. We will be joining a bike ride around Lewisham with Ride for Their Lives. Look out for events near you!
World Car Free Day is on 22 September. Although we’d like every day to be as car free as possible, this is a good opportunity to encourage people to try out alternatives.