Abstract
Background: With urbanization and increasing population density, there are growing concerns regarding health impacts of environmental noise. We assessed the relationship between environmental noise and semen quality of men who visited for fertility evaluation.Methods: This study is a retrospective cohort study of 1,972 male patient who had undertaken semen test between 2016-2018 at a single fertility center of Seoul, South Korea. We used environmental noise data provided by the National Noise Information System (NNIS) of Korea. We assigned semiannual daytime and nighttime data to individual exposure considering the time of semen sampling. Daytime and nighttime noise exposures at each patient’s geocoded address were estimated using empirical Bayesian kriging method. We used multivariable regression and generalized additive models to explore the association of environmental noise with five semen quality parameters and three abnormalities. Results: Men with 2nd and 3rd quartile of daytime noise showed lower sperm concentration (coefficient=-0.27, P=0.045 for 2nd quartile) and lower proportion of normal morphology (-0.26, P=0.034 for 2nd quartile; -0.33, P=0.013 for 3rd quartile) compared to those with the lowest quartile. Estimates for all five semen quality parameters in the 4th quartile of daytime noise were not different from those in the lowest quartile. The associations with daytime noise were toward null for semen volume, % of progressive motility and vitality. For nighttime noise, none of the five parameters showed meaningful association. The associations between noise and three semen abnormalities did not reach statistical significance. Sperm concentration and % of normal morphology decreased when the daytime noise was 60-63 Leq dB. Conclusion: Our study adds an evidence of potentially detrimental impact of environmental noise on semen quality in men living in Seoul. Additional studies with more refined noise measurement will confirm the finding.
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