Effects of mobile phone usage on sperm quality - No time-dependent relationship on usage: A systematic review and updated meta-analysis
Author: Sungjoon Kim1, Donghyun Han1, Jiwoo Ryu1, Kihun Kim2, Yun Hak Kim3
Affiliation:
1 Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Pusan National University, 50612, Yangsan, Republic of Korea.
2 Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Kosin University Gospel Hospital, 49267, Busan, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: kihun7603@naver.com.
3 Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Pusan National University, 50612, Yangsan, Republic of Korea; Department of Biomedical Informatics, School of Medicine, Pusan National University, 50612, Yangsan, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: yunhak10510@pusan.ac.kr.
Conference/Journal: Environ Res
Date published: 2021 Jul 29
Other:
Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111784. , Word Count: 215
Background:
Mobile phones emit radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic waves (EMWs), a low-level RF that can be absorbed by the human body and exert potential adverse effects on the brain, heart, endocrine system, and reproductive function. Owing to the novel findings of numerous studies published since 2012 regarding the effect of mobile phone use on sperm quality, we conducted a systematic review and updated meta-analysis to determine whether the exposure to RF-EMWs affects human sperm quality.
Methods:
This study was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. The outcome measures depicting sperm quality were motility, viability, and concentration, which are the most frequently used parameters in clinical settings to assess fertility.
Results:
We evaluated 18 studies that included 4280 samples. Exposure to mobile phones is associated with reduced sperm motility, viability, and concentration. The decrease in sperm quality after RF-EMW exposure was not significant, even when the mobile phone usage increased. This finding was consistent across experimental in vitro and observational in vivo studies.
Discussion:
Accumulated data from in vivo studies show that mobile phone usage is harmful to sperm quality. Additional studies are needed to determine the effect of the exposure to EMWs from new mobile phone models used in the present digital environment.
Keywords: Concentration; In vivo; Mobile phone; Motility; Radiofrequency; Sperm quality; Viability.
PMID: 34333014 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111784
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