Decline in semen quality among 30,636 young Chinese men from 2001 to 2015

Abstract

Objective: To provide information of semen quality among young Chinese men in the past 15 years.

Design: Retrospective cross-sectional study.

Setting: Sperm bank.

Patient(s): A total of 30,636 young adult men who applied to be sperm donors at the Hunan Province Human Sperm Bank of China in 2001-2015 were included in the study.

Intervention(s): Physical examination and analysis of blood and semen samples.

Main outcome measure(s): Semen parameters, such as semen volume, sperm concentration, total sperm count, progressively motile sperm count, sperm progressive motility, sperm morphology, and round cells.

Result(s): Many of the semen parameters showed a decreasing trend over the 15-year observation period. The sperm concentration and percentage of sperm with normal morphology decreased from 68 × 10⁶/mL to 47 × 10⁶/mL and from 31.8% to 10.8%, respectively. Although sperm progressive motility showed irregular variation, the progressively motile sperm count decreased from 34 × 10⁶ to 21 × 10⁶ over the 15-year period. Furthermore, the rate of qualified donors fell from 55.78% in 2001 to 17.80% in 2015, and the rate for 2015 was approximately threefold lower than the corresponding rates in 2001.

Conclusion(s): The semen quality among young Chinese men has declined over a period of 15 years, especially in terms of sperm concentration, total sperm count, sperm progressive motility, and normal morphology.

Keywords: Chinese young men; semen parameters; semen quality.