Wildfire smoke exposure may affect fertility, study finds

A new study from UW Medicine finds that wildfire smoke exposure may affect fertility.

Researchers analyzed samples from 84 men undergoing fertility treatments between 2018 and 2022. In 2018, 2020, and 2022, there were major smoke events in the Seattle area; the study found consistent declines in sperm count during those times.

“These results reinforce growing evidence that environmental exposures—specifically wildfire smoke—can affect reproductive health,” said senior author Dr. Tristan Nicholson, an assistant professor of urology in the University of Washington School of Medicine and a reproductive urologist at UW Medicine’s Men’s Health Center.

Nicholson’s patients were primarily men with fertility issues.