Impacts of Air Pollution on Reproductive Health

Abstract

Epidemiologic and experimental evidences converge to indicate that air pollution, at the current levels, play a deleterious role on reproductive health. Higher levels of air pollution are found in developing and underdeveloped countries in regions with high population density and higher fertility rates and although the risks associated with the negative reproductive outcomes tend to be small, the number of people that might be affected is significantly large. In this chapter we review the major epidemiological findings (decreased fertility, adverse gestational outcomes, reproductive system cancer, low vitamin D and immune system alterations), current experimental evidence, and possible molecular mechanisms involved in the impairment of the reproductive health and gestation associated with exposures to common urban air pollution.