Blood level of lead in women with unexplained infertility.

Abstract Toxic effect of lead on human reproductive system is a recent concern. Various studies suggest that lead has adverse effect on the reproductive system of both sexes. The present cross-sectional case-control study was done to investigate the blood lead level in women with unexplained infertility. The study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Department of Biochemistry, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Bangladesh from July 2008 - June 2009. A total of 50 women with unexplained infertility (case) ranging from 18-40 years were consecutively included in the study. An equal number of apparently healthy fertile women (control) were included as control. None of the cases and controls was diabetic. Of the infertile women over half (54%) of the patients had primary infertility and 46% secondary infertility. The mean blood level of lead was significantly higher in case group than that in control group (130.0±45.2 vs. 78.3±36.4μg/L, (p<0.001). Correlation between blood lead level and FSH revealed that the two variables had a significantly linear relationship (r=0.213, p=0.033). The correlation coefficient shows that 21% of the variations in FSH can be explained by blood level of lead. Infertile women with absence of the apparent causes of infertility including absence of their male-partner infertility may have unusually high level of lead which could be attributed to infertility.