Relationship between semen quality and tobacco chewing in infertile men

Abstract Submission Current Date/Time : 4/26/2004 12:13:58 PM Relationship Between Semen Quality And Tobacco Chewing In Infertile Men G. Ranga, T. M. Said, A. Agarwal; Karthekeya Medical Research and Diagnostic Center, Santa Cruz, India, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH Objective: Male fertility is affected by a variety of occupational and environmental factors, as well as life style habits that include tobacco consumption. A large population of Indian men is addicted to tobacco chewing. The objective of our study was to assess the relationship between plain tobacco chewing and semen characteristics of the male partners of infertile couples. Design: Retrospective study. Materials and Methods: Data was collected from 640 male patients undergoing infertility evaluation from November 1998 to December 2003. All subjects included in our study were in the age range of 18 - 40 years, had a history of tobacco chewing for 4 - 10 years, and no history of other relevant social habits. Patients were grouped according to the frequency of their habit of tobacco chewing as: mild ( 6 times/day, n = 263), and severe (> 18 times/ day, n = 197). Semen parameters were assessed according to WHO (1999) criteria. Results: Sperm count, percentage motility, morphology and percentage vitality were significantly higher in mild group compared to moderate, and in the moderate compared to the severely addicted group (