Fertility and Sterility
Volume 93, Issue 4 , Pages 1104-1111 , 1 March 2010

Semen quality in fertile men in relation to psychosocial stress

  • Audra L. Gollenberg, Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts
    • ,
  • Fan Liu, M.S.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York
    • ,
  • Charlene Brazil, B.S.

      Affiliations

    • Center for Health and the Environment, University of California, Davis, California
    • ,
  • Erma Z. Drobnis, Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health, School of Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
    • ,
  • David Guzick, M.D., Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York
    • ,
  • James W. Overstreet, M.D., Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Center for Health and the Environment, University of California, Davis, California
    • ,
  • James B. Redmon, M.D.

      Affiliations

    • Departments of Medicine and Urologic Surgery, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota
    • ,
  • Amy Sparks, Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
    • ,
  • Christina Wang, M.D.

      Affiliations

    • Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, Torrance, California
    • ,
  • Shanna H. Swan, Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York
    • Corresponding Author InformationReprint requests: Dr. Shanna H. Swan, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 668, Rochester, New York 14642 (FAX: 585-276-2151).

Received 30 September 2008 ,Revised 5 December 2008 ,Accepted 8 December 2008.

References 

  1. McGrady AV. Effects of psychological stress on male reproduction: a review. Arch Androl. 1984;13:1–7
  2. Philippov OS, Radionchenko AA, Bolotova VP, Voronovskaya NI, Potemkina TV. Estimation of the prevalence and causes of infertility in western Siberia. Bull World Health Organ. 1998;76:183–187
  3. Brkovich AM, Fisher WA. Psychological distress and infertility: forty years of research. J Psychosom Obstet Gynaecol. 1998;19:218–228
  4. Eisner BG. Some psychological differences between fertile and infertile women. J Clin Psychol. 1963;19:391–395
  5. Greil AL. Infertility and psychological distress: a critical review of the literature. Soc Sci Med. 1997;45:1679–1704
  6. Sheiner EK, Sheiner E, Carel R, Potashnik G, Shoham-Vardi I. Potential association between male infertility and occupational psychological stress. J Occup Environ Med. 2002;44:1093–1099
  7. Wasser SK, Sewall G, Soules MR. Psychosocial stress as a cause of infertility. Fertil Steril. 1993;59:685–689
  8. Wright J, Duchesne C, Sabourin S, Bissonnette F, Benoit J, Girard Y. Psychosocial distress and infertility: men and women respond differently. Fertil Steril. 1991;55:100–108
  9. Clarke RN, Klock SC, Geoghegan A, Travassos DE. Relationship between psychological stress and semen quality among in-vitro fertilization patients. Hum Reprod. 1999;14:753–758
  10. Hellhammer DH, Hubert W, Phil C, Freischem CW, Nieschlag E. Male infertility: relationships among gonadotropins, sex steroids, seminal parameters, and personality attitudes. Psychosom Med. 1985;47:58–66
  11. Hjollund NH, Bonde JP, Henriksen TB, Giwercman A, Olsen J. Job strain and male fertility. Epidemiology. 2004;15:114–117
  12. Hjollund NH, Bonde JP, Henriksen TB, Giwercman A, Olsen J. Reproductive effects of male psychologic stress. Epidemiology. 2004;15:21–27
  13. Morelli G, De Gennaro L, Ferrara M, Dondero F, Lenzi A, Lombardo F, et al. Psychosocial factors and male seminal parameters. Biol Psychol. 2000;53:1–11
  14. Pook M, Krause W, Rohrle B. Coping with infertility: distress and changes in sperm quality. Hum Reprod. 1999;14:1487–1492
  15. Pook M, Tuschen-Caffier B, Kubek J, Schill WB, Krause W. Personality, coping and sperm count. Andrologia. 2005;37:29–35
  16. Eskiocak S, Gozen AS, Taskiran A, Kilic AS, Eskiocak M, Gulen S. Effect of psychological stress on the L-arginine-nitric oxide pathway and semen quality. Braz J Med Biol Res. 2006;39:581–588
  17. Fenster L, Katz DF, Wyrobek AJ, Pieper C, Rempel DM, Oman D, et al. Effects of psychological stress on human semen quality. J Androl. 1997;18:194–202
  18. Giblin PT, Poland ML, Moghissi KS, Ager JW, Olson JM. Effects of stress and characteristic adaptability on semen quality in healthy men. Fertil Steril. 1988;49:127–132
  19. Harrison KL, Callan VJ, Hennessey JF. Stress and semen quality in an in vitro fertilization program. Fertil Steril. 1987;48:633–636
  20. Ragni G, Caccamo A. Negative effect of stress of in vitro fertilization program on quality of semen. Acta Eur Fertil. 1992;23:21–23
  21. Zorn B, Auger J, Velikonja V, Kolbezen M, Meden-Vrtovec H. Psychological factors in male partners of infertile couples: relationship with semen quality and early miscarriage. Int J Androl. 2008;31:557–564
  22. De Gennaro L, Balistreri S, Lenzi A, Lombardo F, Ferrara M, Gandini L. Psychosocial factors discriminate oligozoospermic from normozoospermic men. Fertil Steril. 2003;79(Suppl 3):1571–1576
  23. Fukuda M, Fukuda K, Shimizu T, Yomura W, Shimizu S. Kobe earthquake and reduced sperm motility. Hum Reprod. 1996;11:1244–1246
  24. World Health Organization. WHO laboratory manual for the examination of human semen and semen-cervical mucus interactions. 4th ed.. Cambridge, UK/New York: Cambridge University Press; 1999;
  25. Swan SH, Brazil C, Drobnis EZ, Liu F, Kruse RL, Hatch M, et al. Geographic differences in semen quality of fertile U.S. males. Environ Health Perspect. 2003;111:414–420
  26. Brazil C, Swan SH, Drobnis EZ, Liu F, Wang C, Redmon JB, et al. Standardized methods for semen evaluation in a multicenter research study. J Androl. 2004;25:635–644
  27. Overstreet JW, Brazil C. Semen analysis. In:  Lipshultz LI,  Howards SS editor. Infertility in the male. 3d ed. St. Louis, MO: Mosby; 1997;p. 487–490
  28. Guzick DS, Overstreet JW, Factor-Litvak P, Brazil CK, Nakajima ST, Coutifaris C, et al. Sperm morphology, motility, and concentration in fertile and infertile men. N Engl J Med. 2001;345:1388–1393
  29. Dym M. The male reproductive system. In:  Weiss L editors. Histology, cell and tissue biology. 5th ed. New York, Amsterdam, Oxford: Elsevier Biomedical; 1983;p. 1000–1053
  30. Dohrenwend BS, Krasnoff L, Askenasy AR, Dohrenwend BP. Exemplification of a method for scaling life events: the Peri Life Events Scale. J Health Soc Behav. 1978;19:205–229
  31. Holmes TH, Rahe RH. Social readjustment rating scale. J Psychosom Res. 1967;11:213–218
  32. Dohrenwend BS, Dohrenwend BP. Some issues in research on stressful life events. J Nerv Ment Dis. 1978;166:7–15
  33. Carmichael SL, Shaw GM. Maternal life event stress and congenital anomalies. Epidemiology. 2000;11:30–35
  34. Berman NG, Wang C, Paulsen CA. Methodological issues in the analysis of human sperm concentration data. J Androl. 1996;17:68–73
  35. Hauser R, Meeker JD, Duty S, Silva MJ, Calafat AM. Altered semen quality in relation to urinary concentrations of phthalate monoester and oxidative metabolites. Epidemiology. 2006;17:682–691
  36. Menkveld R, Wong WY, Lombard CJ, Wetzels AM, Thomas CM, Merkus HM, et al. Semen parameters, including WHO and strict criteria morphology, in a fertile and subfertile population: an effort towards standardization of in-vivo thresholds. Hum Reprod. 2001;16:1165–1171
  37. Stokes-Riner A, Thurston SW, Brazil C, Guzick D, Liu F, Overstreet JW, et al. One semen sample or 2? Insights from a study of fertile men. J Androl. 2007;28:638–643
  38. Eskiocak S, Gozen AS, Kilic AS, Molla S. Association between mental stress and some antioxidant enzymes of seminal plasma. Indian J Med Res. 2005;122:491–496
  39. Bonde JP, Ernst E, Jensen TK, Hjollund NH, Kolstad H, Henriksen TB, et al. Relation between semen quality and fertility: a population-based study of 430 first-pregnancy planners. Lancet. 1998;352:1172–1177
  40. Donath S. The validity of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire in Australia: a comparison between three scoring methods. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2001;35:231–235
  41. Goldberg D, Williams P. A user's guide to the General Health Questionnaire. Windsor: NFER-Nelson. 1991;
  42. Goldberg DP, Gater R, Sartorius N, Ustun TB, Piccinelli M, Gureje O, et al. The validity of two versions of the GHQ in the WHO study of mental illness in general health care. Psychol Med. 1997;27:191–197
  43. Banks MH. Validation of the General Health Questionnaire in a young community sample. Psychol Med. 1983;13:349–353
  44. King JA, Rosal MC, Ma Y, Reed GW. Association of stress, hostility and plasma testosterone levels. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2005;26:355–360
  45. Klimek M, Pabian W, Tomaszewska B, Kolodziejczyk J. Levels of plasma ACTH in men from infertile couples. Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2005;26:347–350
  46. Kreuz LE, Rose RM, Jennings JR. Suppression of plasma testosterone levels and psychological stress. A longitudinal study of young men in Officer Candidate School. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1972;26:479–482
  47. Rose RM, Kreuz LE, Holaday JW, Sulak KJ, Johnson CE. Diurnal variation of plasma testosterone and cortisol. J Endocrinol. 1972;54:177–178
  48. Theorell T, Karasek RA, Eneroth P. Job strain variations in relation to plasma testosterone fluctuations in working men—a longitudinal study. J Intern Med. 1990;227:31–36
  49. Cui KH. The effect of stress on semen reduction in the marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus). Hum Reprod. 1996;11:568–573
  50. Hatch SL, Dohrenwend BP. Distribution of traumatic and other stressful life events by race/ethnicity, gender, SES and age: a review of the research. Am J Comm Psychol. 2007;40:313–332
  51. Barry D, Petry N. Gender differences in associations between stressful life events and body mass index. Prev Med. 2008;47:498–503
  52. Booker CL, Unger JB, Azen SP, Baezconde-Garbanati L, Lickel B, Johnson CA. A longitudinal analysis of stressful life events, smoking behaviors, and gender differences in a multicultural sample of adolescents. Subst Use Misuse. 2008;43:1521–1543
  53. Roberts ME, Fuemmeler BF, McClernon FJ, Beckham JC. Association between trauma exposure and smoking in a population-based sample of young adults. J Adolesc Health. 2008;42:266–274

 A.L.G. has nothing to disclose. F.L. has nothing to disclose. C.B. has nothing to disclose. E.Z.D. has nothing to disclose. D.G. has nothing to disclose. J.W.O. has nothing to disclose. J.B.R. has nothing to disclose. A.S. has nothing to disclose. C.W. has nothing to disclose. S.H.S. has nothing to disclose.

 This work was supported by the National Institute of Health grant nos. R01-ES09916 to the University of Missouri from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS); MO1-RR00400 to the University of Minnesota General Clinical Research Center; and MO1-RR0425 to the Research and Education Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and the Cedars-Sinai Research Institute from the National Center for Research Resources.

PII: S0015-0282(08)04660-8

doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2008.12.018

Fertility and Sterility
Volume 93, Issue 4 , Pages 1104-1111 , 1 March 2010

Article Tools