Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on November 3, 2005
Human Reproduction 2006 21(3):760-765; doi:10.1093/humrep/dei362
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Semen quality of 324 fertile Japanese men
1 Department of Urology, St Marianna University School of Medicine, 216–8511 Kawasaki, 2 Department of Clinical Bioformatics and 3 Department of Biostatistics, The University of Tokyo School of Medicine, 113–0033 Tokyo, Japan and 4 University Department of Growth and Reproduction, Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
5 To whom correspondence should be addressed at Department of Urology, St Marianna University School of Medicine, 2–16–1 Sugao Miyamae, 216–8511 Kawasaki, Japan. E-mail: t4iwa{at}marianna-u.ac.jp
BACKGROUND: A number of studies have indicated regional differences in semen quality. To examine the current status in Japan, we undertook a cross-sectional study on the semen quality of fertile Japanese men for comparison with recent European results. METHODS: Semen parameters of 324 fertile men from the Kawasaki/Yokohama area were investigated. The semen parameters were compared with those published for fertile men from four European cities, Copenhagen, Paris, Edinburgh and Turku. RESULTS: When adjusting for confounders such as ejaculation abstinence period and age, the lowest sperm concentrations were detected in men from Kawasaki/Yokohama followed by men from Copenhagen, Paris, Edinburgh and Turku, but only the differences between men from Kawasaki/Yokohama and men from Edinburgh and Turku were significant (P = 0.0008 and P < 0.0001, respectively). Total sperm count, percentage of motile sperm and percentage of normal sperm observed in Kawasaki/Yokohama were significantly lower than those from all European centres except for motile sperm in men from Paris. CONCLUSIONS: Japanese fertile men had a semen quality at the level of Danish men, who have been reported to have the lowest among investigated men in Europe. The low level of semen quality of the fertile Japanese men may be due to lifestyle or other environmental factors; however, ethnic differences caused by different genetic variation or combinations cannot be ruled out by this study.
Key words: fertile men/reproductive function/semen quality
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