Is female fertility affected by physically demanding jobs and shiftwork?

via the journal.ie

"A physically demanding job or work schedules outside normal office hours may lower a woman's ability to conceive, suggests research published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

Heavy lifting at work and evening/night/rotating shift patterns were associated with poorer egg quality, the findings show.

Previous research has linked occupational factors to fertility, measured in outcomes such as time to pregnancy and the ability to carry a pregnancy to term. But no study has assessed whether workplace factors might affect a woman's biological capacity to have a baby.

To try and address this, the research team looked at indicators of 'ovarian reserve' -- the number of remaining eggs (antral follicle count) and levels of follicle stimulating hormone or FSH for short, which rise as a woman ages and represent dwindling fertility -- in 473 women attending one fertility clinic.

And they also looked at ovarian response -- the number of mature eggs capable of developing into a healthy embryo in 313 of the women who had completed at least one cycle of IVF by December 2015..." 

Learn more:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170207191851.htm