Is there a Link Between Allergies and Fertility?

Filed in archive Asthma , Hay Fever , Skin Allergies on April 20, 2007

In the American Journal of Epidemiology, UK researchers report "women with asthma, hay fever or eczema are no less fertile than their peers who don't suffer from these allergic conditions." Oh well, thank goodness! I didn't even realizer that there is a link between allergies such as hay fever or eczema and fertility.

A few paragraphs along the report linked to above, though, this got me confused:

Tata's group found no significant difference in fertility rates between women with and without asthma, although asthmatic women in their 20s were actually slightly more fertile than their non-asthmatic peers, the researchers found.

Women with hay fever or eczema were also more fertile than those without these conditions, while women with two or three allergic conditions were also slightly more fertile than women without allergy-related disease.

The reasons why allergic disease might promote fertility aren't clear, Tata and colleagues note; it's possible that the balance of certain cells in the immune system that are seen with these allergic conditions may somehow boost the likelihood of conception.

And caps the article with:

They conclude: "Our results provide reassuring evidence that the fertility rates of women with asthma, eczema, or hay fever are not lower than those of women in the general population."

Ok, perhaps I need more coffee to make sense of this. I mean, is there, or isn't there a difference in the fertility rates of women with allergies compared to those without???