A large 13-year Swiss study has linked decreased sperm concentration and total sperm count with increased mobile phone use.
‘Male infertility is a growing public health concern as experts have observed a 50% decline in male sperm counts over several decades’, reported medicalnewstoday.com, and ‘some researchers believe mobile phones emitting low-level radiofrequency electromagnetic fields may affect male fertility’.
Searching for answers, researchers have been investigating various environmental factors for their potential influence on sperm quality, including radiation exposure, endocrine disruptors and lifestyle habits (including diet, stress, alcohol, drugs and smoking).
The study by scientists at the University of Geneva found smartphone use ‘may be associated with both lower sperm concentration and total sperm count (TSC) in young adult males’.
However, the findings, published in Fertility and Sterility, also indicated transitions to 3G and 4G may have eased the impact on sperm count, perhaps due to the lower transmitting power of newer phones.
For their study, researchers recruited 2,886 men aged 18-22 between 2005 and 2018 at military recruitment centres; study periods spanned 2005-07, 2008-11 and 2012-18.
Laboratory specialists captured semen samples and recorded sperm concentration, total sperm count (TSC), and motility; and participants answered questions regarding reproductive and overall health, education, lifestyle habits and how often they used their devices.
Answers about ‘use frequency’ ranged from once-a-week to over 20 times daily, with participants categorised into 5 groups based on cell phone use frequency.
Participants were also asked where they kept their phones when not in use; answers included pants, jacket, belt carrier or elsewhere not on the body (with 85.7% keeping phones in their pants pockets, 4.6% in their jackets and 9.7% away from the body).
The study reported median sperm concentration was markedly higher among men who reported using their phones once weekly, compared with those who used their phones more than 20 times daily.
In addition, the first study period (2005-07) showed a ‘more pronounced’ link between smartphone use and sperm concentration than subsequent periods. That trajectory ‘appears to align with the progression of new technologies from 2G to 3G to 4G, corresponding to a decrease in the mobile phone’s output power’.
The study did not find any association between carrying phones in the pants and lower semen quality parameters.
Because the study only covered males 18-22, the effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) emitted by cell phones on older men are yet to be explored.
Dr Neil Paulvin, a New York-based longevity and regenerative medicine expert (not involved in the study) told medicalnewstoday.com: ‘The results are not entirely conclusive, but given the association is lower in 2023 than from 2005-07, the effect cell phone usage may have on fertility is likely going to be less prominent for younger men, and more prominent for older men, given they would be more likely to use cell phones between 2005-07.’
And prominent California urologist Dr Justin Houman (also not involved in the study) added: ‘While the exact mechanism of impact remains a subject of debate, the correlation highlights the need for cautious use, particularly with older phone models associated with higher emissions.’
