Ambient pollutants are associated with clinical and sub-clinical indicators of infertility, such as poor sperm quality. However, the link between the ambient fine particle (PM_2.5) concentration and the fertility rate (FR) is unclear. In this epidemiological study, we examined the association between PM_2.5 concentration and childlessness in the United States (US). We conducted a nationwide spatiotemporal study of ~29 million births in 520 US counties from 2003 to 2011. We obtained monthly numbers and demographic data of newborns from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and PM_2.5 estimates from a downscaling model of in situ observations and outputs from the Community Multiscale Air Quality Model. We evaluated the association between the mean PM_2.5 concentration and the FR during the gestational (0–8 months before birth) and pre-gestational (9–11 months before birth) periods using a Poisson model with demographic and socioeconomic covariates. We found a significant association between the FR and PM_2.5 exposure during pre-gestation but not gestation. Each 5 μg/m³ increase in pre-gestational PM_2.5 exposure was associated with a 0.7% (0.0%, 1.4%) reduction in the FR. Nonlinear analysis suggested a sublinear association between the reduction in the FR and PM_2.5 concentration without a safety threshold. Additionally, an annual mean reduction of 1.16 (1.15, 1.17) births per 1000 females aged 15–44 years was attributable to PM_2.5. This study established, for the first time, an association in the US between the FR and PM_2.5 concentration, a finding that adds to the extant epidemiological evidence of the effects of ambient pollutants on fertility, and extends the scope of the impact of low air quality on health.

环境污染物与不育症的临床和亚临床指标（例如精子质量差）相关。但是，周围的微粒（PM _2.5）浓度与受精率（FR）之间的联系尚不清楚。在这项流行病学研究中，我们研究了美国（美国）的PM _2.5浓度与无子女之间的关系。我们从2003年至2011年在美国520个县进行了约2900万例出生的全国性时空研究。我们从疾病控制与预防中心获得了新生儿的月度数据和人口统计学数据，并从原位缩减模型中获得了PM _2.5估算值社区多尺度空气质量模型的观测结果和输出。我们使用具有人口和社会经济协变量的泊松模型，评估了孕期（出生前0-8个月）和孕前（出生前9-11个月）期间平均PM _2.5浓度与FR的相关性。我们发现孕前FR和PM _2.5暴露之间存在显着相关性，但妊娠之间没有显着相关性。孕前PM _2.5暴露每增加5μg/ m ³ ，FR降低0.7％（0.0％，1.4％）。非线性分析表明FR降低和PM _2.5之间存在亚线性关联没有安全阈值的浓度。此外，PM _2.5可导致每1000名15-44岁女性平均每年减少1.16（1.15，1.17）出生。这项研究首次在美国建立了FR和PM _2.5浓度之间的关联，这一发现为现有的流行病学证据增加了环境污染物对生育力的影响，并扩大了低空气影响的范围。健康的质量。