Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
Department of Epidemiology, Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
Am J Mens Health. 2020 May-Jun;14(3):1557988320925985. doi: 10.1177/1557988320925985.
A decades-long decline in sperm counts in Western countries has coincided with an increase in obesity rates, prompting study into their association. Few of these studies have incorporated men of color, the sperm health of whom is relatively unknown. The present exploratory study evaluated the association between body mass index (BMI), race, ethnicity, and sperm parameters among a diverse sample of U.S. men attending a Washington, DC physician practice. Semen samples were collected and processed at a single laboratory and sperm concentration, motility, morphology, and count were evaluated according to World Health Organization (WHO) 5th edition criteria. Multivariate models accounted for covariates related to sperm health. The study population ( = 128) was largely obese (45.3%) or overweight (34.4%), and 36.0% were black or Hispanic. Black men had lower adjusted sperm concentration compared to white men (75.0 million/mL to 107.4 million/mL, = .01) and were more likely to have oligozoospermia ( = .01), asthenozoospermia ( = .004), and low sperm count ( < .0001). Hispanic men had higher adjusted sperm concentration compared to non-Hispanic men (124.5 million/mL to 62.1 million/mL, = .007) and were less likely to have teratozoospermia ( = .001). Obesity and BMI were associated with lower sperm motility and count in crude models only. Given the study's sample size its findings should be interpreted with caution but align with the limited epidemiological literature to date that has evaluated racial and ethnic differences in semen quality. Heightened clinical research attention is needed to ensure men of color are included in representative numbers in studies of urologic and andrologic health.
几十年来，西方国家的精子数量下降与肥胖率上升同时发生，促使人们对两者之间的关系进行研究。这些研究中很少有纳入有色人种男性，他们的精子健康状况相对未知。本探索性研究评估了在美国华盛顿特区医生诊所就诊的不同人群中，体重指数（BMI）、种族、民族与精子参数之间的关系。在一个单一的实验室中收集和处理精液样本，并根据世界卫生组织（WHO）第 5 版标准评估精子浓度、活力、形态和计数。多变量模型考虑了与精子健康相关的协变量。研究人群（n=128）主要为肥胖（45.3%）或超重（34.4%），36.0%为黑人和/或西班牙裔。与白人男性相比，黑人男性的调整后精子浓度较低（750 万/ml 至 1074 万/ml， =.01），且更可能患有少精子症（ =.01）、弱精子症（ =.004）和低精子计数（ <.0001）。与非西班牙裔男性相比，西班牙裔男性的调整后精子浓度较高（1245 万/ml 至 621 万/ml， =.007），且更不可能患有畸形精子症（ =.001）。肥胖和 BMI 仅在粗模型中与精子活力和计数降低相关。鉴于本研究的样本量，其研究结果应谨慎解释，但与迄今为止评估精液质量种族和民族差异的有限流行病学文献一致。需要加强临床研究，以确保在泌尿科和男科健康研究中，有色人种男性的代表性数量得到充分体现。
