Associations between semen quality and age, meteorological variables, clinical conditions, and lifestyles

ESTOFAN, GUSTAVO MARTÍN; MOLINA, ROSA ISABEL; TISSERA, ANDREA DANIELA; BELTRAMONE, FERNANDO; VERÓN, GUSTAVO LUIS; BELLO, RICARDO; VAZQUEZ-LEVIN, MÓNICA HEBE

Congreso; 12th International, 11th European, 32nd German Congress of Andrology; 2020

Semen analysis is an indispensable tool for assessing male fertility potential since it provides relevant information on male genital tract functionality. The evaluation of associations between risk factors and semen quality is fundamental for clinical management. This blind cross-sectional study assessed the impact of age, clinical (obesity) and lifestyle (cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption) as well as meteorological variables during spermatogenesis (temperature, humidity, pressure, sunshine duration, and related variables) upon human semen quality. A large cohort of men (n=11657) was subjected to a thorough semen evaluation (semen volume, sperm concentration, motility, vitality, morphology, round cells, HOS test, nuclear maturity, and sperm kinematics: VSL, VCL, VAP, LIN, STR, WOB, BCF, ALH, and MAD) following WHO 2010 guidelines and internal/external quality assurance standards at LAR andrology laboratory (Argentina). As a result, age ≥40 years, obesity (body mass index (BMI) ≥30), and spermatogenesis during summer were individually found deleterious to semen quality, as reflected by lower sperm routine and kinematic parameters in samples from men ≥40 years, BMI≥30 or obtained in summer, when compared to those of men