Environmental Health in Israel | 2014

doubled between 1990 and 2010, possibly due to improved diagnosis and socioeconomic changes in the population during that time. Age-standardized testicular cancer rates in Israel increased from 2.28 (per 100,000) in 1980 to 4.68 in 2010 in Jews and from 0.60 to 1.39 in non-Jews (Figure 1). Age-Adjusted Testicular Cancer Rates in Israel, 1980–2010 Reproductive Health Trends Infertility can be caused by a range of factors including aging, genetic abnormalities, acute and chronic disease, behavioral factors, and exposure to environmental contaminants. Low-level exposure to EDCs and ETS, including in utero exposure to these contaminants has been associated with decreased fertility. In Israel, fertility rates were generally stable between 2000 and 2012. In Jews, fertility rates increased from 18.7 (per 1,000) to 21.1 in 2012. In Arabs, fertility rates decreased from 35.0 (per 1,000) to 24.8. The male/female ratio in live births is 1.06 and has remained stable between 2000 and 2012. Data are not available on current infertility rates. The rate of IVF treatment cycles (per 1,000 women aged 15–49) has increased in Israel from 11.5 in 2000 to 20.1 in 2012. The percent of live births from IVF (out of total live births) has increased from 2.5% in 1997 to 3.0% in 2001, to 3.3% in 2005, to 4.1% in 2009–2010, and to 4.4% in 2012. Much of the increasing demand for IVF treatments in Israel is attributable to economic and social factors (including state funding of fertility treatment). Age of menarche, which has also been linked to exposure to EDCs, exhibits a clear downward trend from 13.4 in women born in 1970 to 12.8 in women born two decades later. Obesity While the major risk factors for obesity are generally considered behavioral (high calorie fatty diets combined with a sedentary lifestyle), the risk of obesity is also related to genetic and environmental  Figure 1 Source: Israeli Ministry of Health (10) Environmental Health in Israel 2014  Chapter 12 0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 ASR/100,000 10 05 00 95 90 85 09 04 99 94 89 84 07 02 97 92 87 82 08 03 98 93 88 83 06 01 96 91 86 81 80 Year Jews, Male Non-Jews, Male - 84 -