Smoking and Infertility

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It has been known for years that smoking can lead to early menopause. While the average age of menopause in this country is 50 or 51, studies suggest that women who smoke start menopause two to three years earlier. Menopause occurs when ovaries no longer have eggs inside the ovarian follicles. Typically, a woman has about 400,000 eggs in each ovary at the time of her birth. The number of eggs in the ovaries gradually declines between the first menstrual cycle and menopause. At the beginning of each cycle, as many as two dozen ovarian follicles with eggs may be recruited for that particular cycle. One of these follicles becomes dominant and rapidly increases in size. This follicle is destined to ovulate - that is, release the egg - around the middle of the cycle. The remaining follicles disappear in the process of so-called ‘follicular atresia’.

New eggs, unlike sperm, are not produced after birth and their number has to last through the entire reproductive life. In some women, because of genetic factors, there are fewer eggs at the time of birth and their supply is exhausted before the age of 35, resulting in ‘premature menopause’. The same may happen if the eggs are destroyed by abnormal autoantibodies or toxic factors even though their number at the time of birth was normal. Early menopause, due to the accelerated loss of eggs, occurs in women who smoke but until now, little was known about how cigarette smoke might cause that effect. New research shows that a class of chemicals released by burning cigarettes triggers a process leading to the death of immature egg cells in laboratory animals. Researchers speculate that the chemicals in tobacco smoke could kill up to half the eggs in the ovaries of women who smoke – yet another reason to give up smoking.

Additionally, on the subject of smoking, there should be a caution for pregnant women who smoke. Some toxins in tobacco smoke have been shown to cross the placental barrier and it is known that smoking can lead to low birth weight babies. If you plan to become pregnant, let that be the motivation for you to quit smoking. For a medical practice devoted to reproductive endocrinology, infertility, and assisted reproductive technology, call OAK BROOK FERTILITY CENTER, a place where dreams are conceived and hopes are delivered. New patients are welcome.

P.S. Smoking contributes to a woman’s shrinking fertility window, particularly among those whose careers force them to postpone childbearing.

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