Environmental Determinants of IVF Treatment
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Environmental determinants of IVF treatment
IRAS ID
220225
Contact name
Tom Clemens
Contact email
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 1 days
Research summary
The period around the time of conception (periconception) and embryo implantation are critical for successful and healthy pregnancy but very few studies have examined how the environment and environmental factors may affect conception. Previous research has shown that air pollution and other environmental characteristics such as exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) may be associated with reproductive outcomes (including birthweight and the risk of a premature birth) and this study seeks to extend this, to consider how these factors may be associated with conception and fertility in the population undergoing assisted reproduction treatment (ART). The study will obtain permission from the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to use their anonymised ART treatment register and participants will be included (but never identified) based on HFEA guidelines for research use of their data. The HFEA register will link to Scottish maternity record data and environmental data for air pollution and solar UVR. Exposure to these environmental characteristics will be determined based on the address of the participant during treatment. Levels of air pollution and solar UVR will be determined based on models of pollution concentration and satellite data respectively. The HFEA data contains exact dates of the various stages of an IVF treatment cycle including date of cell (occyte) retrieval, embryo transfer and date of delivery (where treatment has been successful) and we will examine treatment success at each stages in relation to the environmental characteristics. The project has been funded by a combination of the Medical Research Council, the Natural Environment Research Council and the Chief Scientists Office for Scotland.
REC name
Scotland A: Adults with Incapacity only
REC reference
17/SS/0103
Date of REC Opinion
8 Aug 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion