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Bisphenol A (BPA) is a high-production volume industrial chemical found in many consumer products. BPA is a suspected potent endocrine disruptor, with endocrine-disrupting properties demonstrated in animal studies. Few human studies have examined bisphenol A exposure in relation to male fertility and, results are divergent. The aim of the study is to examine the associations between urinary BPA concentration and male fertility. Bisphenol A urinary concentrations were measured using gas chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry in 315 men under 45 years of age with normal sperm concentration (⩾15 mln/ml) recruited from a male reproductive health clinic. Participants were interviewed and provided a semen sample. BPA was detected in 98.10% of urine samples, with a median concentration of 1.87 µg/l (1.63 µg/ g creatinine). A multiple linear regression analysis identified a positive association between the urinary concentrations of bisphenol A 25th–50th percentile and total sperm sex chromosome disomy (p = .004). Also when modeled as continuous variable urinary BPA concentration increased total sperm sex chromosome disomy (p = .01). Urinary concentration of BPA also increase the percentage of immature sperm (HDS) (p = .018) and decrease motility (p = .03). The study provides evidence that exposure to BPA is associated with poorer semen quality. Future studies are needed to confirm these findings.

Exposure to air pollution has been clearly associated with a range of adverse health effects, including reproductive toxicity. However, a limited amount of research has been conducted to examine the association between air pollution and male reproductive outcomes, specially semen quality. We performed a systematic review (up to March 2017) to assess the impact of environmental and occupational exposure to air pollution on semen quality. Epidemiological studies focusing on air pollution exposures and male reproduction were identified by a search of the PUBMED, MEDLINE, EBSCO and TOXNET literature bases. Twenty-two studies were included which assess the impact of air pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NOx, O3, PAHs) on main semen parameters (sperm concentration, motility, morphology), CASA parameters, DNA fragmentation, sperm aneuploidy and the level of reproductive hormones. The number of studies found significant results supporting the evidence that air pollution may affect: DNA fragmentation, morphology and motility.In summary, most studies concluded that outdoor air pollution affects at least one of the assessed semen parameters. However the diversity of air pollutants and semen parameters presented in the studies included in the review and different study design caused lack of consistency in results and difficulties in comparison.

This is one of the first study on this topic, so the observation of the relationship between parabens and semen quality warrants further investigation.

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