Lower Pregnancy Rates After IVF in Women Working as Occupational Cleaners A Preliminary Longitudinal Study

OBJECTIVE: To assess clinical, biological, and environ­ mental factors influencing pregnancy rates (PRs) after in vitro fertilization (IVF), and to study the influence of occupational, lifestyle, and domestic exposure on PR. STUDY DESIGN: A longi­ tudinal cohort study was performed in women who started an IVF cycle with a self­administered question­ naire concerning their envi­ ronmental and occupation­ al exposure. Medical data were obtained from medical files. RESULTS: Among 534 cycles, we showed a variety of factors that had an impact on PR: age, infertility du­ ration, number of mature oocytes and embryos. After multivariate analysis, women with "elementary" occu­ pations had a significantly lower PR (OR 5.6; 95% CI 1.3-23.7). Among them, 82% were cleaners. CONCLUSION: This preliminary result leads us to focus on a socio­professional category that is already rec­ ognized in the literature as at risk for congenital abnor­ malities during pregnancy. Further cohort studies are needed to study the influence of socio­professional cate­ gory on PR.