A recent medical study conducted in China has shed light on the impact of air pollution on male fertility. The study, published in the journal "JAMA Network," included 30,000 men in China and found that air pollution affects the quality of semen, specifically the motility of sperm (the ability of sperm to swim in the right direction).
Researchers at Tongji University School of Medicine in Shanghai analyzed data from a total of 33,876 men from 340 Chinese cities, with an average age of 34 years, all of whom experienced varying levels of exposure to air pollution. The scientists looked for patterns in semen quality in relation to whether participants had been exposed to amounts of particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers, between 2.5 and 10 micrometers, and larger than 10 micrometers within the 90 days prior to their visit to the hospital for semen sample collection.
To determine semen quality, researchers focused on factors such as sperm count, concentration, and motility, as reported by the British newspaper "The Guardian." The researchers discovered that as participants were exposed to higher levels of pollution particles, both progressive and total motility of sperm declined. Progressive motility refers to the sperm's ability to swim forward, while total motility indicates the overall swimming capability of sperm.
The decrease in sperm motility when exposed to particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers was approximately 3.6 percent. Data indicated that the effect of pollution was more pronounced when exposure occurred during the first part of the 90 days of sperm formation. The researchers noted that polluted air particles affect sperm at the genetic level.
