title: Time to pregnancy as a function of male and female serum concentrations of 2,2'4,4'5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (CB-153) and 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis (p-chlorophenyl)-ethylene (p,p'-DDE).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Persistent organochlorine pollutants (POP) may affect both the female and male reproductive system in animals as well as in humans.
  
  
  METHODS
  Blood samples were collected from pregnant women and their partners from Greenland, Warsaw and Kharkiv, and from a cohort of Swedish fishermen's wives. Blood samples were analysed for 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (CB-153) and 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis (p-chlorophenyl)-ethylene (p,p'-DDE). Information on the participants' fertility, measured as time to pregnancy (TTP), was collected. In total, 778 men and 1505 women were included in the analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The data from Warsaw, Kharkiv and the Swedish fishermen's wives indicated no effect of either male or female exposure to POP on TTP. However, among men and women from Greenland, there seemed to be an association between serum concentrations of CB-153 and p,p'-DDE and prolonged TTP. Due to the strong intra-individual correlation between CB-153 and p,p'-DDE in the Greenlandic population, it was not possible to determine whether the risk was associated with CB-153 or p, p'-DDE or was an interaction between the two compounds.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The overall results of the present study create a somewhat ambiguous pattern, but give some support to the idea that dietary POP exposure might be harmful for couple fertility.
authors.affiliation: Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and Psychiatric Epidemiology, Lund University Hospital, SE-221 85 Lund, Sweden. anna.axmon@med.lu.se
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Axmon
authors.forename: A-M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Thulstrup
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rignell-Hydbom
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zvyezday
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Ludwicki
authors.forename: B A G
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Jönsson
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Toft
authors.forename: J-P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Bonde
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hagmar
mesh_terms: D003633:Dichlorodiphenyl Dichloroethylene / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000097:blood*; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D003633:Dichlorodiphenyl Dichloroethylene; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls; C014024:2,4,5,2',4',5'-hexachlorobiphenyl