Background

Ambient air pollution is associated with systemic increases in oxidative stress, to which sperm are particularly sensitive. Although decrements in semen quality represent a key mechanism for impaired fecundability, prior research has not established a clear association between air pollution and semen quality. To address this, we evaluated the association between ambient air pollution and semen quality among men with moderate air pollution exposure.

Methods

Of 501 couples in the LIFE study, 467 male partners provided one or more semen samples. Average residential exposure to criteria air pollutants and fine particle constituents in the 72 days before ejaculation was estimated using modified Community Multiscale Air Quality models. Generalized estimating equation models estimated the association between air pollutants and semen quality parameters (volume, count, percent hypo-osmotic swollen, motility, sperm head, morphology and sperm chromatin parameters). Models adjusted for age, body mass index, smoking and season.

Results

Most associations between air pollutants and semen parameters were small. However, associations were observed for an interquartile increase in fine particulates ≤2.5 µm and decreased sperm head size, including −0.22 (95% CI −0.34, −0.11) µm² for area, −0.06 (95% CI −0.09, −0.03) µm for length and −0.09 (95% CI −0.19, −0.06) µm for perimeter. Fine particulates were also associated with 1.03 (95% CI 0.40, 1.66) greater percent sperm head with acrosome.

Conclusions

Air pollution exposure was not associated with semen quality, except for sperm head parameters. Moderate levels of ambient air pollution may not be a major contributor to semen quality.

中文翻译：

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环境空气污染与精液质量

 背景

环境空气污染与全身氧化应激增加有关，精子对此特别敏感。尽管精液质量下降是生育力受损的关键机制，但先前的研究尚未建立空气污染与精液质量之间的明确关联。为了解决这个问题，我们评估了中度空气污染暴露男性中环境空气污染与精液质量之间的关联。

 方法

在 LIFE 研究的 501 对夫妇中，467 名男性伴侣提供了一份或多份精液样本。使用修改后的社区多尺度空气质量模型估算了射精前 72 天的住宅平均暴露于标准空气污染物和细颗粒成分的情况。广义估计方程模型估计了空气污染物和精液质量参数（体积、计数、低渗肿胀百分比、活力、精子头、形态和精子染色质参数）之间的关联。模型根据年龄、体重指数、吸烟和季节进行了调整。

 结果

空气污染物和精液参数之间的大多数关联很小。然而，观察到≤2.5 µm细颗粒物四分位间增加与精子头部尺寸减小之间存在相关性，包括面积-0.22 (95% CI -0.34, -0.11) µm ² ，-0.06 (95% CI -0.09, -0.03) ) µm 表示长度，−0.09 (95% CI -0.19, -0.06) µm 表示周长。细颗粒物还与 1.03 (95% CI 0.40, 1.66) 精子头部顶体百分比增加相关。

 结论

除精子头参数外，空气污染暴露与精液质量无关。中等程度的环境空气污染可能不是影响精液质量的主要因素。