Air pollution and gynecological diseases

Implementation of industry and vehicular traffic led to a great diffusion of air pollution with a major impairment of air quality especially in urban areas over the last decades. Air pollution is an environmental contaminant containing thousands of harmful compounds derived from exhaust emissions containing a mixture of gaseous, liquid, and solid substances. Evidences associating air pollution exposure to respiratory and cardiovascular systems have been growing in the last decades as these are the most frequently affected organs. Anyway, constantly increasing data are available regarding an increased risk of women’s health disorders after exposure to air pollution. In fact, recent studies have underlined that common and widespread air pollutants could affect both reproductive health and pregnancy outcomes. Indoor and outdoor air pollution has been associated to a higher risk of malignant and benign gynecological diseases. Furthermore, exposure to toxic air pollution particles can have a detrimental role on ovarian function starting from the intrauterine time of life both affecting time of puberty and of menopause but also harming the fertility potential of women. It has been demonstrated that air pollutants are able to decrease the success rate of IVF techniques. These results are derived from animal and human epidemiological data, even if some limitations of the available literature should be acknowledged; in fact, evidences of the biological mechanisms are still limited, and the reliability of information on personal exposures is sometimes scarce. Future toxicological and clinical studies are mandatory to confirm previously hypothesized associations and to clarify the involved mechanism. If possible, they should be also useful in identifying which subgroups of subjects are most prone to air pollution exposure in order to implement public health strategies and preventive efforts against the dangerous effects of air pollution.