Male fertility and its association with occupational and mobile phone towers hazards: An analytic study

• Main Authors: Ola Faris Al-Quzwini, Hanan A. Al-Taee, Suhaila F. Al-Shaikh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SpringerOpen 2016-12-01
• Series: Middle East Fertility Society Journal
• Subjects: Male fertility; SFA; Mobile phone tower; Occupational hazard
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1110569016300127

Objective: The aim of the study is to determine the association of male fertility with the occupational and mobile phone towers hazards. Background: Male reproductive ability is likely to have multiple genetic and environmental determinants. A seminal fluid analysis is clinical marker of male reproductive potential. Aim: To find out whether environmental hazard such as mobile phone tower has an effect on male reproductive ability. Methods: Two hundred couples were enrolled, one hundred subfertile couples as a study group (n = 100), and one hundred fertile couples as a control group (n = 100). Environmental exposure to electromagnetic radiation from mobile phone towers and occupational state was assessed by standard questionnaire. Semen analysis was done for the subfertile males, because the fertile males (control group) refused to give semen samples. Results: The occupational hazard expressed significant difference between the subfertile and the control groups (38% versus 12%) (p < 0.05), with odds ratio (OR) = 4.5 and 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 2.175–9.288, and also the environmental factor (mobile tower within fifty meters from their house) showed significant difference (29% versus 12%) (p < 0.05), with OR = 3; 95% CI: 1.426–6.290. SFA of the subfertile males was 40% abnormal versus 60% normal semen analysis. These abnormalities were classified into 35% oligozoospermia, 55% asthenospermia, and 10% teratozoospermia. Oligozoospermia was associated with more occupational hazard (OR = 1.8, 95% CI: 0.569–5.527). Teratozoospermia was associated with more occupational hazard (OR = 5.23, 95% CI: 0.524–52.204), and with exposure to environmental hazard (OR = 2.6, 95% CI: 0.342–19.070), and associated with smoking hazard (OR = 1.7, 95% CI: 0.225–12.353). Conclusions: Male fertility represented by quality of semen might be affected by occupational and environmental exposures, so it seems that prevention of occupational and environmental risk factors, may lead to improvement of semen quality in subfertile men.