An assessment of fertility in boron-exposed Turkish subpopulations

Relationships between elevated boron intake and fertility were sought by comparing reproduction in the residents of two Turkish villages with high levels of boron in their drinking water (one with 8.5 to 29 mg B/L and the other with 2.05 to 2.5 mg B/L), with three nearby villages with more typical low boron levels (0.03 to 0.40 mg B/L). The two high boron villages were designated as Region I, and the three villages with low boron in the drinking water were designated Region II. In addition to exposure to elevated boron in drinking water, 28.3% of the probands in Region I were employed in borate mining or processing, whereas in Region II, 11.7% were so employed. An observational study was carried out in which the authors compared the reproductive history of families living in Region I with families living in Region II by identifying married adults (referred to as probands) who were able to provide information about their and their spouses' family pedigrees covering three generations. Probands were identified by home visits and, if ever married, accepted for ascertainment. Evidence of fertility was birth of a living child, and data were obtained about the fertility of the proband generation, their parents' and also their childrens' generations. In high-boron villages (Region I), 159 three-generation kindreds containing 1068 families were ascertained and, in low-boron villages (Region II), 154 three-generation kindreds containing 610 families were ascertained. In Region 1, 96% of marriages produced at least one child, with primary infertility estimated at 2.34% compared with 96% and 2.62%, respectively, for Region II. There was no significant difference in fertility either between Region I and Region II or between the villages within the Regions. The fertility figures are not different from similar measures of fertility in other parts of Turkey. In Region I, the gender ratio (M:F) of offspring was 0.89, whereas in the Region II villages the gender ratio was 1.04 (NS, chi2 = 1.335, P > 0.05). It is concluded that at the elevated boron drinking water levels studied, a boron-related effect on reproduction was not found.