A study has suggested that noisy neighbourhoods can make women less fertile while pollution can make men less fertile. Air pollution over five years was found to be associated with a 24% increased risk of infertility in men aged 32-45. For women, noisy neighbourhoods might be linked to a nearly 15% increased risk of infertility for those over 35.
It's been suggested that buildings should be better insulated against noise. This is a Danish study published in the British Medical Journal. They analysed the Danish National Patient Register data for 526,000 men and 377,850 women aged between 30-45 over the period 2000-2017.
The participants already had fewer than two children and were trying to have more children. The researchers were from the Danish Cancer Institute. They measured small particles in the air called PM 2.5 (particulate matter being a measure of air pollution) and noise pollution. They then cross-reference that with diagnoses of infertility as listed on the National register.
Noise
Women over 35 exposed to noise over 10.2 dB over five years experienced a 14% increased risk of fertility. This did not apply to women in their early 30s.
For men, there was a slightly increased risk of infertility due to road traffic noise among those in the 35-45 age bracket but it didn't affect men in their early 30s.
Globally
Globally, fertility rates have been decreasing. The researchers hope that their research might help in understanding this. The report says: "Political implementation of air pollution and noise mitigations may be important tools for improving birth rates in the Western world."
Mechanism
It's possible that noise pollution may increase infertility due to increased stress according to Professor Jill Belch, an expert in vascular medicine and air pollution from the University of Dundee's School of Medicine. She was not part of this research.
She said:
"Noise pollution does not get enough attention in terms of ameliorating [fertility]; we know it has effects on mental health, hearing and sleep-even when asleep, noise is perceived as a danger signal causing the fight or flight response to occur, resulting in poor sleep quality."
She added that:
"The mechanism of decreased fertility in women could be related to these, or to a completely unknown mechanism, but the implications of this study, if validated, should require a soundproofing standard for all new bills."
She believes that the findings might have a "very profound" impact on future generations.
The mentioned links between noise and air pollution and infertility was found in those living in rural, suburban and urban areas and across different income and social class levels.
Professor Allison Campbell, the chief scientific officer of Care Fertility, said:
"People trying to conceive should not be unduly concerned by this research and are advised to take proactive, proven steps such as avoiding smoking, limiting alcohol consumption and maintaining a healthy weight."
Allan Pacey, Professor of andrology at the University of Manchester said it was a good study that:
"It is possible that the real cause of this association lies with something that is not possible to measure. For example, the authors are clear that they did not have information on lifestyle factors such as alcohol use smoking or body mass index."
Cat context
There is always a cat context in terms of research about human health. It's obvious I know but I'll restate it. Cats live in our world. They live in the same environment in which we live. Their anatomy is very similar to ours. Their physiology is very similar to ours. It is likely that health issues generated from air pollution and noise can affect our companion animals in a similar way. There is no research on this as far as I know but we must always think of our companion animals when concluding that environmental factors can damage our health.
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