Background: The increased use of the mobile phones, the attention of the media for the general health, and the increase of the idiopathic male infertility suggest to investigate the possible consequences of excessive use of the mobile phone on the semen quality.
Aim: To evaluate the conventional and some of the main biofunctional sperm parameters in healthy men according to the different use of the mobile phone.
Subjects and Methods: All the enrolled subjects in this study were divided into four groups according to their active cell phone use : group A= no use (n=10 subjects); group B= < 2 h/day (n=16 subjects); group C= 2-4 h/day (n=17 subjects); and group D= >4 h/day (n=20 subjects). Among the subjects of the group D (>4h/day) a further evaluation was made between the "trousers users"(n=12 subjects) and "shirt users"(n=8 subjects) and they underwent to semen collection to evaluate conventional and biofunctional sperm parameters (density, total count, morphology, progressive motility, apoptosis, mithocondrial membrane potential, chromatin compaction, DNA fragmentation).
Results: None of the conventional sperm parameters examined were significantly altered. However the group D patients and the trousers users showed a higher percentage of sperm DNA fragmentation compared to other groups.
Conclusion: These results suggest that the sperm DNA fragmentation could represent the only parameter significantly altered in the subjects who use the mobile phone for more than 4 hours for day and in particular for those who use the device in the pocket of the trousers.
Written by:
Rago R, Salacone P, Caponecchia L, Sebastianelli L, Marcucci I, Calogero AE, Condorelli R, Vicari E, Morgia G, Favilla V, Cimino N, Arcoria AF, La Vignera S. Are you the author?
Unit of Andrology and Pathophysiology of Reproduction, S.M. Goretti Hospital- Latina, Italy.
Reference: J Endocrinol Invest. 2013 May 30. Epub ahead of print.
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 23722985
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