Abstract
The impact of male aging on male fertility has only recently become of interest to the scientific community. This study aims to assess the relationship between age and fertility among a sample of men, considering the individual and pathological characteristics. In this retrospective study data of semen analysis and medical history of 1294 Italian male patients were considered. Semen analysis was performed by light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy mathematically elaborated. A generalized linear model was used to explore the influence of male age on semen quality, considering as confounders wine consumption, smoking habits, presence of varicocele, consanguinity and positive semen bacteriological analysis and urethral swab. The mean age of the participants was 36.41 ± 6.379. Male aging without impact of confounders was correlated with a decrease in sperm concentration and motility and an increased in sperm necrosis. Sperm concentration and progressive motility were negatively related to the presence of confounders as wine consumption (sperm motility), urogenital infection (sperm concentration and motility), varicocele (sperm concentration) and consanguinity (sperm motility). Urogenital infection, varicocele and consanguinity positively correlated with sperm necrosis. The most important finding was the observation of a negative effect of male aging on sperm parameters such as concentration, motility, and viability. It is possible to hypothesize age-dependent changes of testicular environment, probably related to reactive oxygen species production. The demonstration, in a large sample of patients, that aging influences sperm quality strongly motivates further research focused on the mechanisms involved in this phenomenon and its effects on offspring fitness.
Highlights
Studies have considered the possibility of age-related changes in sperm genetics, such as sperm DNA fragmentation16–18, sperm aneuploidy19, telomere length20 and epigenetics21
PH, sperm concentration and progressive motility data referred to W HO12 values, fertility index, sperm apoptosis, immaturity and necrosis percentages were compared to reference values reported in Collodel and Moretti33
The results of the generalized linear models used to analyse the relationship between the AGE and the semen parameters, controlling for a set of individual conditions related to lifestyle and presence of pathologies, are shown in the paragraphs
Summary
Studies have considered the possibility of age-related changes in sperm genetics, such as sperm DNA fragmentation, sperm aneuploidy, telomere length and epigenetics. An increased risk of congenital abnormalities, neuropsychiatric diseases6, autism and childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia in offspring of men with advanced paternal age have been described. Different groups have recently described adverse associations between male age and reproductive o utcomes. Different groups have recently described adverse associations between male age and reproductive o utcomes26,27 It is still debated if in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) may result to be negatively influenced by paternal age. By these techniques, a decline in fertilization, embryo quality, implantation, pregnancy, live birth rates and pregnancy loss have been observed. The obtained data were processed by a Generalized Linear Model that was fitted for each continuous outcome with the aim of analyzing the relationship between age and the semen parameters, controlling for the effects of other parameters as wine consumption, smoking habits, presence of varicocele, consanguinity and positive semen bacteriological analysis and urethral swab
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