Effects of mobile phone use on semen parameters: a cross-sectional study of 1634 men in China
Shanshan Zhang A B , Fengyi Mo B , Yali Chang B , Shufang Wu B , Qing Ma B , Fan Jin B and Lanfeng Xing
B *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310012 Zhejiang Province, People’s Republic of China.
B Department of Reproductive Endocrinology, Women’s Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310006 Zhejiang Province, People’s Republic of China.
Reproduction, Fertility and Development 34(9) 669-678 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD21234
Published online: 19 April 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Mobile phones play an irreplaceable role in modern people’s lives. However, the radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation produced by mobile phones has also caused increasing concern. A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the effect of radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation produced by mobile phones on semen parameters in 1634 men who underwent semen examination at the Department of Reproductive Endocrinology, Women’s Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, China. Analysis of variance and multivariate linear regression were used to explore differences among different groups. A P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The results showed significant associations among different groups of daily mobile phone use time and daily duration of phone calls in the percentage of progressively motile spermatozoa (P = 0.004 and P = 0.007), rapid progressively motile spermatozoa (P = 0.012 and P = 0.006) and total motile spermatozoa (P = 0.004 and P = 0.046). After adjustments for the confounding effects of age and body mass index by multiple linear regression, the results showed that the daily duration of mobile phone use had a negative effect on sperm motility. However, there was no statistically significant correlation between daily phone call duration and sperm motility. Therefore, the daily duration of mobile phone use may negatively affect sperm motility and impair male fertility.
Keywords: daily phone call duration, DNA fragmentation, fertility, mobile phone radiation, RF-EMR, sperm concentration, sperm motility, sperm morphology.
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