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Study shows shift work and physically demanding jobs may lower women's fertility

Research shows that heavy lifting at work or working rotating patterns can be associated with poorer egg quality.

A NEW STUDY has shown how a physically demanding job or working outside of normal office hours may lower a woman’s ability to conceive.

Research published in the Occupational & Environmental Medicine Journal shows that heavy lifting at work or working rotating patterns can be associated with poorer egg quality.

Researchers looked at indicators of the ovarian reserve – the number of remaining eggs and the level of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) – in 473 women attending one fertility clinic.

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

The average age of the women was 35, while their average body mass index (BMI) was 23. Participants were quizzed about the level of physical exertion required for their job and the hours and patterns worked, as well as their leisure time and relaxing activities.

Four out of 10 women said their job required them to regularly move/lift heavy objects. Just under one in four said that their jobs were moderately to very physically demanding.

Meanwhile, the vast majority (91%) worked normal office hours.

The results

The number of remaining eggs, revealed by ultrasound scan, ranged from eight to 17 among all 473 women.

The number of mature eggs retrieved from the 313 undergoing an IVF cycle was nine.

The result was that women going through IVF who did physically demanding jobs had a lower total reserve of eggs and fewer mature eggs.

These differences were greater among women working evening/night/rotating shifts: they had fewer mature eggs, on average, than those working shifts within normal working hours.

And they were even greater among those specifically working evening and night shifts.

“These findings have clinical implications, as women with fewer mature oocytes would have fewer eggs which are capable of developing into healthy embryos,” said the researchers.

As this was an observational study, no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect.

The researchers were also unable to assess the impact of other potentially influential factors, such as long working hours or switching between day and night shifts.

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21 Comments
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    Mute James Elford
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    Feb 8th 2017, 6:41 AM

    How does shift work affect male fertility, or do we care

    80
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    Mute Daniel O'Connor
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    Feb 8th 2017, 8:03 AM

    I bet you are one of those men with a penis, ya b@stard

    59
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    Mute Drew TheChinaman :)
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    Feb 8th 2017, 9:06 AM

    Many studies have shown stress, disrupted sleep patterns, diet substantially reduce male sperm count and mobility.

    Conversely physically demanding work may work in favor or against male fertility… moderate increased physical strength and activity usually means more testosterone, increased fertility.

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    Mute Eamon Mac Gowan
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    Feb 8th 2017, 8:23 AM

    Hmm, this affects working class women, so don’t expect the Women’s Council of Ireland to do anything.

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    Mute Mrs M
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    Feb 8th 2017, 10:02 AM

    Anyone who works for a living is “working – class “

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    Mute cortisola
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    Feb 8th 2017, 1:01 PM

    @Mrs M: General definition for “working class” is: the social group consisting of people who are employed for wages, especially in manual or industrial work. But you may say everyone who “works” – like artists or politics – are “working class” too.

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    Mute Jed I. Knight
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    Feb 8th 2017, 4:14 PM

    So, let me get this straight. Are women are saying they can’t do equal work as it’s physically detrimental to their health, ok with them so far.
    So, now that we’ve established that women won’t be doing equal work anymore, the only question that remains is how much of a cut in wages they’re going to take.
    And now the fighting starts…

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    Mute Daniel O'Connor
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    Feb 8th 2017, 7:17 AM

    Male patriarchy clearly trying to suppress equality for wom…..oh wait….its manual labour….that’s OK so

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    Mute Adrian
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    Feb 8th 2017, 7:51 AM

    Why bother go to work at all. Driving is dangerous!

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    Mute Matt Connolly
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    Feb 8th 2017, 6:16 AM

    “not tonight, I’m too tired” ?

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    Mute A H
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    Feb 8th 2017, 9:15 AM

    Stress can affect your health? Wow….just wow.

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    Mute cortisola
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    Feb 8th 2017, 1:03 PM

    @A H: They spent $2.4 million to research this !! ;-)

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    Mute Tony O'Regan
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    Feb 8th 2017, 10:02 AM

    So women are naturally predisposed to being less physically active than men in the workplace? Hmm…

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    Mute Peter Buchanan
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    Feb 8th 2017, 6:58 AM

    Well then, don’t do the job !

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    Mute Ian
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    Feb 8th 2017, 8:23 AM

    So are you saying if woman take your herbal medicine #8 they can safely do shift work?

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    Mute Warthog
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    Feb 8th 2017, 10:04 AM

    Going on the birth rate in this country at the moment would indicate that not many women are doing much of this type of work.

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    Mute QtrzRZ6r
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    Feb 8th 2017, 9:07 AM

    Sounds like these ‘researchers’ have stumbled upon is a condition called PCOS which has jack shit to do with lifting.

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    Mute Martin Flood
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    Feb 8th 2017, 6:48 AM

    Think I’ll order a new couch to be delivered before my business trip abroad.

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    Mute Eamon Mac Gowan
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    Feb 8th 2017, 8:24 AM

    @Ian: It’s spam.

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    Mute Ian
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    Feb 8th 2017, 8:27 AM

    @Eamon it’s sarcasm

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    Mute Aleksei Harlasov
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    Feb 8th 2017, 4:27 PM

    Really? No need to be a scientist to know that, no need an expensive data analysis to provide measurements. I think it’s straight forward that 8-5 jobs are naturally matching to humans inner cloaks.

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