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Sperm quality, counts worsening in Finland
Jorgensen N. Int J Androl. 2011;doi:10.1111/j.1365-2605.2010.01133.x
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New data show that sperm quality has significantly deteriorated during the last 10 years in Finland, a country that previously was a region with high sperm counts.
At the same time, the incidence of testis cancer in the Finnish population showed a remarkable increase, following trends observed in several countries in Europe and the Americas.
Jorma Toppari, MD, PhD, of the University of Turku, and colleagues examined three cohorts of 19-year-old men between 1998 and 2006. Overall, data from 858 men were examined.
The men who were born in the late 1980s had lower sperm counts compared with those who were born in the early 1980s, according to the results. The total sperm counts were 227 million for men born in 1979 to 1981; 202 million for men born in 1982 to 1983; and 165 million for men born in 1987. Less than 10% of sperm are structurally normal, and the number of morphologically normal sperm declined from 18 million to 11 million.
At the same time, the men who were born in the late 1980s also had higher incidences of testis cancer when compared with men born earlier. The incidence rate was manyfold higher for Finnish men born around 1980 vs. men born around 1950, the researchers found.
While the underlying cause for these simultaneously occurring adverse trends remains unknown, the rapid change points to environmental causes, the researchers concluded. One hypothesis is endocrine-disrupting compounds that act during development.
“Only environmental factors can explain the rapidly increasing trends in testicular cancer. Factors related to modern way of living may be involved, including exposure to modern industrial chemicals and pesticides.
“Whatever the cause may be, most likely we should search for complex factors operating 20 to 30 years ago to explain the current reproductive problems for young men,” the researchers wrote in the study.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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