Environmental Impact on Female Fertility and Pregnancy

Abstract

Over the recent years, female fertility problems and number of pregnancies resulting into negative outcomes have been on the rise becoming a matter of particular concern among women of childbearing age. The rise in the above adverse reproductive health outcomes could be partly attributed to the exposure to hazardous factors ubiquitously found in the environment. To investigate this hypothesis, in this chapter, we summarize the current evidence on the impact of environmental factors and endocrine disruptors (EDs) on female fertility (either nonassisted or assisted) and on pregnancy outcomes (ectopic pregnancy, pregnancy losses, gestational diabetes, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, preterm birth, intrauterine growth restriction, small and large for gestational age, and birth defects). Because it has been established that environmental factors and EDs are capable to induce epigenetic alterations, special care has been given to the exploration of their transgenerational effects on female fertility and pregnancy outcomes.