Does semen quality improve during early adulthood?
Semen variables change little during the third decade of life, however some improvement in sperm morphology and motility may occur.
A suspicion of deteriorating semen quality has been raised in several studies. The longitudinal development of semen quality in early adulthood is insufficiently understood.
A longitudinal follow-up of two cohorts of volunteer young adult Finnish men representing the general population was carried out. Cohorts A (discovery cohort, born 1979-1981, n = 336) and B (validation cohort, born 1983, n = 197) were followed up from the age of 19 years onward for 10 years.
Inclusion criteria included that both the men and their mothers were born in Finland. Semen analysis was performed in cohorts A and B at 2-4 year intervals over a period of 10 years. Semen volume, sperm concentration, total sperm count, motility, total motile count and morphology were the variables assessed in the analysis. A physical examination was carried out at each visit to detect any significant andrological abnormalities. The overall participation rate was 13.4%.
During the follow-up, the percentage of sperm with normal morphology and the percentage of motile sperm increased significantly both in the discovery (A) (P
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