Sperm counts and concentration are down all over the world, according to a new study that updates previous research and raises questions about exposures and men's health.
is a meta-analysis, which means it combined findings from more than 250 previous studies. It also updates a previous meta-analysis the team published in 2017, adding data on sperm counts from 2011 to 2018 and regions in South America, Asia and Africa, where data had been incomplete before.
That means more men are likely to have sperm counts below the fertility threshold than was the case 50 years ago, said Levine, an epidemiologist and public health physician at the Braun School of Public Health, at Hadassah University Medical Center. But Amy Sparks, a reproductive physiologist at the University of Iowa, who was not involved in the research, cautioned that sperm counts are falling, but not enough to affect the human population.
"We can't ignore that things are changing. Lifestyles have changed. Dietary patterns certainly have changed," she said."Through these changes, we are exposing our body to altered conditions. In response to those altered conditions, we're seeing a decrease in sperm concentration." It's challenging to study sperm counts and fertility is even harder, said Dr. Bruce Redmon, a professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School, who was not involved in the research but studies male reproductive disorders.
Environmental exposures of the father before conception may also be related to poor fetal outcomes. In a man's adult life, his sperm count can also be reduced by exposure to pesticides, lack of physical activity, poor diet, smoking and obesity, he said.
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