A large population-based study showed that increased mobile phone use reduces sperm concentration and total sperm count.

• For over a half-century, medical experts have been looking for environmental and lifestyle factors that contribute to decreasing male sperm count.
• Some experts suggest that low-level radiofrequency electromagnetic fields emitted by mobile phones may have an effect on male fertility.
• A large Swiss population study revealed decreased sperm concentration and total sperm count with increased mobile phone use.
• The findings indicate that advanced phone technologies may have less impact on sperm quality.

Male infertility is considered to account for almost half of all clinical infertility cases.

Male infertility is becoming a rising public health concern, with doctors observing a 50% drop in male sperm counts over several decades.

Searching for answers, researchers have been investigating various environmental factors for their potential influence on sperm quality. These may include:

• radiation exposure
• endocrine disruptors
• lifestyle habitsTrusted Source (i.e., diet, stress, alcohol, drugs, and smoking)

Researchers from the University of Geneva and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute investigated the impact of mobile phone use and location on male infertility in a new study.

According to the 13-year study, smartphone use is connected with reduced sperm concentration and total sperm count (TSC) in young adult males.

Transitions to 3G and 4G, on the other hand, may have lessened the impact on sperm count, possibly due to the decreased transmission power of newer phones.

The findings were recently published in Fertility and Sterility

Do cellphones have an impact on male infertility?

Between 2005 and 2018, researchers recruited 2,886 men ages 18 to 22 at military recruitment centers for the study. The study periods were from 2005 to 2007, 2008 to 2011, and 2012 to 2018.

The laboratory specialists captured semen samples and recorded sperm concentration, total sperm count (TSC), and motility.

Participants were asked about their reproductive and overall health, education, and lifestyle habits, as well as how frequently they use their devices. The frequency of use ranged from once a week to more than 20 times per day.

The questions were answered by a total of 2,764 people. The researchers divided the participants into five groups based on their frequency of cell phone use.

Men who reported using their phones once weekly had significantly higher median sperm concentrations than men who used their phones more than 20 times per day.

Moreover, the first study period showed a "more pronounced" relationship between smartphone use and sperm concentration than subsequent periods. The trajectory appears to correspond to the progression of new technologies from 2G to 3G to 4G, corresponding to a decrease in the output power of mobile phones.

Does it matter where you carry your phone?

Researchers also inquired about where participants kept their phones when not in use. Non-use phone locations included pants, jacket, belt carrier, or anywhere else not on the body.

When not in use, 85.7% of the study participants — 2,368 men — kept their phones in their pants pockets.

The remaining males kept their phones in their jackets (4.6%) or elsewhere (9.7%).

The study models found no link between carrying phones in one's pants and lower sperm quality parameters.

This lack of correlation was also visible in the stratified analysis by recruitment period.

Why is male sperm count going down?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO)Trusted Source, a male with a sperm concentration below 15 million per milliliter may take more than a year to conceive a child with a partner.

Moreover, sperm concentrations below 40 million per milliliter reduce the chances of pregnancy.

According to research, sperm count has decreased from 99 million to an average of 47 million sperm per milliliter. This is especially true in Western countries.

Dr. Hussain Ahmad, a consultant practitioner in the United Kingdom, spoke with Medical News Today about the Swiss study. He was not a participant in the study.

Dr. Ahmad shared that myriad factors affect sperm count, such as:

• drug use (prescription and illegal)
• alcohol use
• tobacco use
• stress
• physical inactivity

Does cell phone radiation have long-term effects?

This large-scale, cross-sectional study on mobile phone use and sperm quality was conducted by the researchers in collaboration. Their research gathered data on thousands of Swiss men over a decade.

Depending on self-reported data is a major limitation. To address this in future research, the authors launched another study in which participants downloaded a smartphone app.

This study only included men aged 18 to 22. The effects of cell phone radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) on older men have yet to be investigated.

Older cell phones may be harmful to reproductive health.

"While the exact mechanism of impact remains a subject of debate, the correlation highlights the need for cautious use, particularly with older phone models associated with higher emissions," he said.

The authors of the study concluded: "The lack of clear evidence for a negative association between mobile phone use and male fertility, as well as the dramatic increase in cell phone use over the past decade, underscores the need for further research in this area."

The researchers also stated that "prospective observational studies" to assess RF-EMF exposure to the testicles and the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis are needed.

"This would allow us to examine the association between cell phone use, RF-EMF exposure, and semen quality and to better understand the mode of action of RF-EMF on the male reproductive system," the researchers wrote in their paper.

Source: medicalnewstoday.com