Time series analysis of sperm concentration in fertile men in Toulouse, France between 1977 and 1992

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Abstract
Objectives: To investigate whether sperm production has changed during the past 16 years in the Toulouse area of France. Design: Time series analysis of sperm donors' specimens between 1977 and 1992. Setting: Sperm bank of university hospital in Toulouse, France. Subjects: 302 healthy fertile men candidate sperm donors more than 20 and up to 45 years old and without any infertile brothers. Main outcome measure: Spermatozoa concentration. Results: Donors' mean age at time of donation was 34.05 (SD 5.13), but this increased significantly (P6/ml (SD 68.42x106/ml). Sperm concentration was positively linked to the year of donation (Pearson's coefficient r=0.12, P0.05). Conclusion: Sperm concentration has not changed with time in the Toulouse area. Key messages This decline in sperm count was recently confirmed in the Paris area of France We studied sperm production of healthy fertile men in the Toulouse area of south west France The men were recruited according to the same selection criteria as in the Parisian study, but, contrary to the Parisian results, the sperm count of the semen samples had remained constant during the past 16 years These discrepant findings could be explained by different environmental conditions noted between the two areas