Human fertility threat

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