Effect of Smoking on Sperm Quality

Abstract

Epidemiological studies indicate an increase in the number of smokers in the world, including Indonesia where the majrity of active smokers are male. This causes health problems, one which is associated with male fertility problems. Smoking affects active and passive smokers. There are substances in tobacco that are harmful to the body. This review summarizes the effects of harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke towards male fertility by comparing the smokers with non smokers' male sperm quality, and evaluates the adverse effect of cigarettes on active and passive smokers. The amount of cigarettes per day affecting sperm quality is also analyzed among the active smokers. Data were obtained by searching databases using standard search string, excluding the effects of smoking outside male infertility. Key words used to assess exposure, outcome, and estimates for the concerned associations were: smoking, semen, male infertility, sperm, humans, and fertility.Study strengths, limitations, and differences were noted. Article and case reports were also evaluated by two authors, according to other specified criteria. Results show there are a few papers that report no difference in semen analysis between smokers and nonsmokers. Some studies have reported that smoking can decrease sperm quality demonstrated through a number of parameters such as sperm motility, sperm shape abnormality, and sperm fertilising capasity through increased seminal oxidative stress and DNA damage. A significant decrease in sperm quality occurs in heavy smokers, while the decreae percentage in sperm quality on mild smokers was the smallest.As for passive smokers, they showed a negative effect similar to active smokers. This is because a large amount of harmful substances in the tobacco smoke is released and dispersed into the environment. The conclusion of this study is that smoking can cause a decrease in sperm quality which can directly impact male fertility. The percentage decrease in sperm quality is strongly correlated ith the number of ciagrettes smoked per day. The extent of the environmental tobacco smoke related risk in passive smokers is also estimated to be as high as experienced by active smokers.