Abstract
Objective
To characterize sociodemographic differences in semen parameters among US men undergoing
a semen analysis.
Materials and Methods
Men who provided a semen sample were identified from insurance claims between 2007
and 2016. Differences in semen parameters were characterized according to age, race,
education, and region. Mean semen parameters and proportions of men with suboptimal
parameters were compared and risks of oligospermia and azoospermia were assessed by
logistic regression.
Results
Of the 7263 men included, most men were white (55.1%), Hispanic (20.2%), or Asian
(10.2%). Asians had the highest mean semen concentrations (69.2 × 106/mL), whereas blacks had the lowest (51.3 × 106/mL). Men from the Midwest were more likely to have oligospermia (odds ratio [OR]
1.62; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.34-1.94), whereas men from the West were less
likely (OR 0.82; 95% CI 0.82-0.94) when compared with men from South. An association
between education and sperm concentration was observed. For example, men with a high
school diploma or less were more likely to have oligospermia (OR 1.09; 95% CI 0.95-1.26),
whereas men with at least a bachelor degree were less likely (OR 0.87; 95% CI 0.76-1.0)
when compared with men with less than a bachelor degree.
Conclusion
As we observed differences in semen quality based on sociodemographic factors, these
findings may have clinical implications as relying on a single reference value when
guiding infertile couples may be problematic given these variations. Further work
is warranted to understand the etiology of such differences and determine if different
normative reference values may apply for different populations.
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to UrologyAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Male reproductive disorders and fertility trends: influences of environment and genetic susceptibility.Physiol Rev. 2016; 96: 55-97
- Regional differences in semen quality in Europe.Hum Reprod. 2001; 16: 1012-1019
- Geographic differences in semen quality of fertile U.S. males.Environ Health Perspect. 2003; 111: 414-420
- Body mass index in relation to semen quality and reproductive hormones in New Zealand men: a cross-sectional study in fertility clinics.Hum Reprod. 2013; 28: 3178-3187
- Cigarette smoking and semen quality: a new meta-analysis examining the effect of the 2010 world health organization laboratory methods for the examination of human semen.Eur Urol. 2016; 70: 635-645
- Semen quality of young men from the general population in Baltic countries.Hum Reprod. 2017; 32: 1334-1340
- Semen parameters in fertile US men: the study for future families.Andrology. 2013; 1: 806-814
- Racial variation in semen quality at fertility evaluation.Urology. 2017; 106: 96-102
- Male infertility and risk of nonmalignant chronic diseases: a systematic review of the epidemiological evidence.Semin Reprod Med. 2017; 35: 282-290
- Optum labs: building a novel node in the learning health care system.Health Aff (Millwood). 2014; 33: 1187-1194
- World Health Organization reference values for human semen characteristics.Hum Reprod Update. 2010; 16: 231-245
- Semen quality among Danish and Finnish men attempting to conceive. The Danish First Pregnancy Planner Study Team.Eur J Endocrinol. 2000; 142: 47-52
- East-West gradient in semen quality in the Nordic-Baltic area: a study of men from the general population in Denmark, Norway, Estonia and Finland.Hum Reprod. 2002; 17: 2199-2208
- Semen analyses in 1,283 men from the United States over a 25-year period: no decline in quality.Fertil Steril. 1996; 65: 1009-1014
- Semen quality in relation to biomarkers of pesticide exposure.Environ Health Perspect. 2003; 111: 1478-1484
- Role of genetics in azoospermia.Urology. 2011; 77: 598-601
- Semen quality of fertile Japanese men: a cross-sectional population-based study of 792 men.BMJ Open. 2013; 3
- Reference values for vertebral shape in young Chinese women: implication for assessment of vertebral deformity.Eur Spine J. 2010; 19: 1162-1168
- The use of genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics in identifying biomarkers of male infertility.Fertil Steril. 2013; 99: 998-1007
- Impact of CAG repeat length in the androgen receptor gene on male infertility—a meta-analysis.Reprod Biomed Online. 2016; 33: 39-49
- Socioeconomic and racial disparities among infertility patients seeking care.Fertil Steril. 2006; 85: 876-881
- Infertility services reported by men in the United States: national survey data.Fertil Steril. 2009; 91: 2466-2470
- Consistent age-dependent declines in human semen quality: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Ageing Res Rev. 2015; 19: 22-33
- The age of fathers in the USA is rising: an analysis of 168 867 480 births from 1972 to 2015.Hum Reprod. 2017; 32: 2110-2116
- Parental age and risk of pediatric cancer in the offspring: a population-based record-linkage study in California.Am J Epidemiol. 2017; 186: 843-856
- Maternal and paternal age and risk of autism spectrum disorders.Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007; 161: 334-340
- Risk of diabetes according to male factor infertility: a register-based cohort study.Hum Reprod. 2017; 32: 1-8
- Prevalences of oligozoospermia and azoospermia in male partners of infertile couples from different parts of India.Asian J Androl. 2006; 8: 89-93
- The epidemiology and etiology of azoospermia.Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2013; 68: 15-26
- Lifestyle factors and reproductive health: taking control of your fertility.Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2013; 11: 66
Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 06, 2018
Accepted:
September 25,
2018
Received:
July 10,
2018
Footnotes
Financial Disclosure: CHG, SL, CAZ, and JPB declare no support from any organization for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous 3 years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work. ME is an advisor for Sandstone. AG reports personal fees from Merck-Serono, Finox, IBSA Pharmaceuticals, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, and from Novo-Nordisk, outside the submitted work.
Funding Support: The ReproUnion collaborative study, co-financed by the European Union, Interreg VÖKS paid a portion of CHG's salary and expenses.
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
