Women who smoke are both more likely to be infertile and to have unsuccessful infertility treatments.
just the facts
Women who smoke are 60% more likely than nonsmokers to be infertile. (1)
Sources 1. Augood C, Duckitt K, Templeton AA. Smoking and female infertility: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Human Reproduction 1998;13:1532-1539.
definition
Sometimes, a woman doesn't get pregnant even though she and her partner have been trying to conceive for many months. ("Trying" means having unprotected sex frequently.) Doctors call this problem infertility. Infertility can happen due to problems in the woman's body or in the man's body.
When a woman has difficulty becoming pregnant, doctors call the problem infertility.
explanation
The warning labels tell you that smoking can cause problems during pregnancy. They don't tell you, though, that smoking also makes it less likely that you will be able to become pregnant.
Women who smoke are 60% more likely than nonsmokers to be infertile. (1) Their increased risk of infertility is believed to result from a combination of at least three harmful effects of tobacco. First, tobacco smoke contains substances that are toxic to a woman's egg cells. Second, smoking lowers the level of the female hormone estrogen in a woman's body and affects the way that the body handles this hormone. Third, smoking can damage the tubes through which an egg cell must travel from the ovary (the place where the egg is made) to the uterus (the place where the fertilized egg develops into a baby).
Not only are smokers more likely to be infertile, they are also more likely to have unsuccessful infertility treatments. Smokers are about one-third less likely than nonsmokers to become pregnant after in vitro fertilization (a procedure in which an egg cell is fertilized outside the woman's body).
