Male gonadal dose of ionizing radiation delivered during X-ray examinations and monthly probability of pregnancy: a population-based retrospective study

Abstract

Background: Male gonadal exposure to ionizing radiation may disrupt spermatogenesis, but its influence on the fecundity of couples has been rarely studied. We aimed to characterize the influence of male gonadal dose of ionizing radiation delivered during radiodiagnostic on the monthly probability of pregnancy.

Reproductive life events in the population living in the vicinity of a nuclear waste reprocessing plant

“…Imputing a TTP of one month to these pregnancies14 and including them in the analysis yielded results similar to the main analysis (results not shown). Therefore, bias caused by pregnancy planning is unlikely.…”

“…Next, the questionnaire focused on the previous 15 years (from January 1985): all pregnancies leading to a live birth, all miscarriages (between six and 20 gestational weeks33) and pregnancies current at the time of the interview were detailed. The current male partner of the woman, if any, also answered a telephone questionnaire about his health, x ray examinations14 and occupation. The interviews were conducted simultaneously, by the same interviewers and with exactly the same methodology in both areas.…”

“…Few studies directly assessed the association between male exposure to ionising radiation and a couple’s fecundity,12 – 14 all of which had limitations. One was limited by exposure misclassification;14 another focused on primary infertility followed by a medical consultation,13 which might not be a very sensitive marker of altered fecundity as not all couples choose to medicalise involuntary infertility; the third concerned cancer patients,12 among whom confounding by indication cannot be discarded. Male occupational exposure to ionising radiation before conception of a pregnancy may influence the risk of stillbirth15 16 and sex ratio 17 18.…”

When do involuntarily infertile couples choose to seek medical help?

“…This study is based on a survey of the general population, designed to compare the occurrence of reproductive life events between two rural areas and examine the association between adverse reproductive events and exposure to ionizing radiation (18,19). The selected areas were the towns of Hillion, La M eaugon, Saint-Julien, and Yffiniac (vicinity of SaintBrieuc, Brittany, France) and the canton of Beaumont-Hague (19 towns, Normandy, close to Cherbourg), in which a nuclear waste reprocessing plant is located.…”

Prolonged time to pregnancy in residents exposed to ionising radiation in cobalt-60-contaminated buildings

“…A large UK occupational cohort study of nuclear workers did not find an association between male exposure to low-dose radiation at work and primary infertility 15. In addition, no association was found between cumulative exposure to diagnostic radiation and prolonged time to pregnancy (TTP) in a cross-sectional study of French men 16. For females, the UK study of nuclear workers did not find that female preconceptional exposure to low-dose radiation was related to primary infertility, but there was a weak association when infertility was defined as no pregnancies reaching ≥24 weeks gestational age 15.…”