Abstract
BackgroundTobacco smoking is a public health issue and has been implicated in adverse reproductive outcomes including semen quality. Available data however provides conflicting findings. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of tobacco smoking on semen quality among men in Ghana.MethodsIn this study, a total of 140 subjects were recruited, comprising 95 smokers and 45 non-smokers. Smokers were further categorized into mild, moderate and heavy smokers. Semen parameters such as sperm concentration, motility, viability and normal morphology were measured according to the World Health Organisation criteria.ResultsThe study showed that smokers had significantly lower semen volume, sperm concentration, sperm motility, total sperm count, sperm morphology, free testosterone and follicle stimulating hormone (p <0.05 respectively), compared with non-smokers. Smokers were at a higher risk of developing oligospermia, asthenozoospermia and teratozoospermia (OR = 3.1, 4.2 and, 4.7; p <0.05) than non-smokers.ConclusionResults demonstrated a decline in semen quality in a dose dependent tobacco smoking manner.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12978-016-0207-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Tobacco smoking is a public health issue and has been implicated in adverse reproductive outcomes including semen quality
Cigarette smoking may be associated with sub-fertility in males, which may be attributed to decreased sperm concentration, lower sperm motility and a reduced percentage of morphologically normal sperms [9,10,11]
The results showed that the number of cigarette sticks smoked per day had no significant effect on semen volume, sluggishness, pus cells (PC), epithelial cells (ECs) and red blood cells (RBC) (p = 0.667, 0.358, 0.236, 0.650, 0.491 respectively), but significantly reduced semen pH, sperm motility, viability, morphology, count and total sperm count (p
Summary
Tobacco smoking is a public health issue and has been implicated in adverse reproductive outcomes including semen quality. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of tobacco smoking on semen quality among men in Ghana. Lifestyle factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, drug abuse as well as increased levels of environmental pollutants have been suggested as factors responsible for decline in semen quality [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Cigarette smoking is a major public health problem [7]. The Northern Region recorded 17.7 % of men engaged in smoking, the Upper West Region 15.3 % and the Upper East Region 11.4 % [12]
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