HAUGEN, T.B. and T. EGELAND et al. Semen Parameters in Norwegian Fertile Men. J Androl (27):66–71. 2006
Another study by Haugen and Egeland et al2 (2006) recognizes the importance of semen analysis with
regards to infertility investigation in the clinics. However, these parameters in analysis even those set by WHO may
not be applicable worldwide, hence they set out their study to establish their own reference ranges for this procedure
in their locality. Their subjects were composed of 99 males who were partners to 500 pregnant women, invited and
with informed consent. A mean abstinence time of 3 days was reported by this study, in contrast to the WHO
recommended 2-7 days period of abstinence. The parameters considered in this study included sperm concentration,
total sperm number, progressive motility, and proportion of ideal spermatozoa. They have concluded with values
derived at a lower limit than the WHO standard that is appropriate in their locality.
According to “Seasonal Variation and Age-related Changes in Human Semen Parameters” by Zuying et al
(2003), semen volume, sperm concentration, total sperm count, motility, total motile sperm, and morphology
significantly decreased as age increased. In addition, the percentage of sperm with tail defects increased.
The retrospective study included information collected from 408 semen analyses performed from July 1989
to December 2000 at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Semen parameters were semen volume, pH, sperm
concentration, sperm motility, progressive motility and sperm morphology. During the 11-year period of data
collection, the age of all patients included ranged from 22-66 years. Majority of the subjects (62%) were between 30
and 40 years old, 13% were younger than 30 years, and 235% were older than 40. The average sperm concentration
was 136.1 million/ml (SD 142.0) with range from 2.2 to 847 million/ml. Forty-three subjects (10.5%) had sperm count
of less than 20 million sperm/ml. One-hundred thirty-two subjects (33.2%) had less than 50% motility and 79 (20.4%)
had less than 4% normal morphology. There was a significant age-related decline in volume (-0.38 ml/decade),
sperm concentration (-25.4 million/decade), total sperm count (-101.1 million/decade), motility percentage (5.12%/decade), progressive motility percentage (-4.27%/decade), total motile sperm (-36.6 million/decade), normal
morphology percentage (-1.06%/decade), and an increase in percentage of tail defects (+2.46%/decade).
Chia and co-workers (2001) reported no significant month-to-month fluctuations in semen volume and sperm
density among men who resided in the tropics, where there are minimal changes in temperature.
Sources:
Chia, S.E.; Lim, S.T.; Ho, L.M.; Tay, S.K. (2001). Monthly variation in human semen quality in male partners of
infertile women in the tropics. Hum Reprod. 16: 277-81.
Chen, Z.; Toth, T.; Godfrey-Bailey, L.; Mercedat, N.; Schiff, I.; Hauser, R. (2003). Seasonal Variation and AgeRelated Changes in Human Semen Parameters. Journal of Andrology, Vol. 24, No. 2, March/April 2003.