Higher Mobile Phone Use Tied to Lower Sperm Counts

TUESDAY, Dec. 5, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Higher mobile phone use is associated with lower sperm concentration and sperm count in young men, according to a study published in the December issue of Fertility and Sterility.

Rita Rahban, Ph.D., from the Swiss Centre for Applied Human Toxicology at the University of Geneva, and colleagues examined the association between mobile phone exposure and semen parameters. The analysis included 2,886 men (ages 18 to 22 years) recruited during military conscription (2005 to 2018).

The researchers found that a higher frequency of mobile phone use (>20 times per day) was associated with a lower sperm concentration (adjusted β, −0.152) and a lower total sperm count (adjusted β, −0.271). Extrapolating, in adjusted models, this translates to a 30 and 21 percent increased risk for sperm concentration and total sperm count, respectively, to be below the World Health Organization reference values for fertile men. The relationship was more pronounced in the first study period (2005 to 2007) and gradually decreased with time. There were no consistent associations observed between mobile phone use and sperm motility or sperm morphology. Nor was there any association seen between keeping a mobile phone in the pants pocket and lower semen parameters.

"The observed time trend of decreasing association is in line with the transition to new technologies and the corresponding decrease in mobile phone output power," the authors write.

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