Recent decline in sperm motility among donor candidates at a sperm bank in Denmark

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Lassen E, Pacey A, Skytte AB, Montgomerie R. Recent decline in sperm motility among donor candidates at a sperm bank in Denmark. Hum Reprod. 2024 Jun 4

(Denmake, Canada, UK)

Abstract

Denmark, 2017 - 2022

Variation in semen quality among men applying to be sperm donors

Summary answer

The motile sperm concentration and total motile sperm count (TMSC) in ejaculates,

both measures of sperm quality,

declined by as much as 22% from 2019 to 2022.

What is known already

Questions remain about whether human semen quality has declined in recent years.

Resolution of this issue has important implications for human fertility

Study design, size, duration

Semen quality of ejaculates previously collected from 2017 to 2022

Sperm bank locations, four cities in Denmark

6,758 donor candidates

Between 18 and 45 years old

(to determine whether their sperm quality met a minimum criterion for them to be accepted as sperm donors)

Participants/materials, setting, methods

All ejaculates were analyzed within 1 hour of production.

Computer-assisted semen analysis

Age, site, temperature.

2017 to 2019

Semen volume, sperm concentration, and total sperm count increased by 2-12%

2019 to 2022

Motile sperm concentration, down 16%

Total motile sperm count, down 22%

2019

Concentration of motile sperm, 18.4 million/ml

Total motile sperm count, 61.4 million per ejaculate

2022

Concentration of motile sperm, 15.5 million/ml

Total motile sperm count, 48.1 million per ejaculate

Limitations, reasons for caution

We cannot determine from the available data the causes of the decline in semen quality from 2019 to 2022.

Our results have implications for human fertility and the recruitment of sperm donors for medically assisted reproduction,

where motile sperm concentration is an essential selection criterion because it influences fertility.

We suggest that gathering health and lifestyle data on donor candidates at sperm banks might help to identify causal factors for the decline of sperm quality

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