[Electronic cigarettes and fertility: True or false friends?]

Abstract

While electronic cigarettes have been on the rise in France for the past ten years, data on their prevalence, use patterns and safety have remained fragmented and controversial. Electronic cigarettes seem to not be a harmless product to use, because although they contain fewer harmful substances than traditional cigarettes, they still contain toxic products such as endocrine disruptors, which appear to have a negative impact on hormonal homeostasis, morphology and functioning of the animal reproductive system. Mostly presented as a harmless alternative to traditional cigarettes by industry lobbies, electronic cigarettes are often offered as an aid to smoking cessation in the same way as nicotinic substitutes. This strategy is especially proposed without knowledge of its effects on human reproductive health. Indeed, there are currently very few scientific publications, which study the impact of the use of electronic cigarettes, nicotine and the vapours it delivers on fertility and the functioning of the human female and male reproductive systems. Thus, the great majority of the data we have to date come from studies carried out in animal populations and show that electronic cigarettes exposure affect fertility. There is, to our knowledge, no scientific publication on the results in Assisted Reproductive Technology in case of use of electronic cigarettes, motivating the realization of the study IVF-VAP currently underway in the department of Medicine and Biology of Reproduction of the Amiens Picardie University Hospital.

Keywords: AMP; ART; Cigarette électronique; Electronic cigarette; Fertility; Fertilité; Reproductive health; Santé reproductive.