Occupational, life stress and family functioning: does it affect semen quality?

Abstract

Background and aims: Although psychological stress has been implicated as a cause of idiopathic infertility in both men and women, it has received little scientific attention among males as compared to females. The aim of the study was to examine the association between occupational, life stress, family functioning and semen quality.

Methods and results: The study population consisted of 327 men who were attending an infertility clinic for diagnostic purposes. Psychological stress was assessed based on two questionnaires: The Subjective Work Characteristics Questionnaire and the Perceived Stress Scale. The level of satisfaction with family functioning and support was evaluated by means of the APGAR Family Scale. The findings suggest that, on the one hand, exposure to occupational stressors can be negatively associated with semen quality (there was a positive association between stress and the percentage of sperm with DNA damage (p = 0.03) and atypical sperm (p = 0.05)); on the other hand, there was no correlation between the level of life stress and semen quality indicators. Negative associations were found between satisfaction with family functioning and the percentage of motile sperm cells (p = 0.02), VAP (p = 0.05), VSL (p = 0.05) and VCL (p = 0.04).

Conclusion: The study indicates that occupational stress can affect male semen quality; however, due to limited data on this issue, the obtained results should be confirmed in longitudinal studies.

• Family support
• life stress
• occupational stress
• semen quality

Acknowledgements

This study was performed under the project ‘Environmental threats to reproduction -- multicentre study in Poland’ supported by National Center for Research and Development in Poland, from grant no. PBZ-MEiN-/8/2//2006; contract no. K140/P01/2007/1.2.1.2. and the project ‘Occupational and life stress and semen quality’ financed with a grant for statutory activity IMP 10.9/2012.