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Why Don't My Kids Ever Call? Oh, I Don't Have Any...

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 3:01 am
by Doug
Why Don't My Kids Ever Call? Oh, I took too many calls and don't have any...


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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Spending hours on a cell phone each day may affect the quality of a man's sperm, preliminary research suggests.

In a study of 361 men seen at their infertility clinic, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic found an association between the patients' cell phone use and their sperm quality.

On average, the more hours the men spent on their cell phones each day, the lower their sperm count and the greater their percentage of abnormal sperm.

..."Our results show a strong association of cell phone use with decreased semen quality. However, they do not prove a cause-and- effect relationship," lead researcher Dr. Ashok Agarwal told Reuters Health.

He and his colleagues based their findings on semen samples from 361 men who came to their infertility clinic over one year. All of the men were questioned about their cell phone habits.

In general, the researchers found, sperm count and sperm quality tended to decline as daily cell phone hours increased. Men who said they used their phones for more than four hours each day had the lowest average sperm count and the fewest normal, viable sperm.

"We infer from our results that heavy cell phone use ... is associated with a lower semen quality," Agarwal said. But whether cell phones somehow directly affect men's fertility is not clear.

See here.

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 2:18 pm
by Barbara Fitzpatrick
Much too small a sample size to draw any conclusions. Especially (and no, I don't have the citation) since sperm count has been dropping in industrialized nations for the last couple of decades (prior to widespread cell phone use). I'd not only increase the sample size significantly, I'd also look for other lifestyle compatibilities of the group with declining sperm count.