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Association between paternal smoking at the time of pregnancy and the semen quality in sons

Axelsson, Jonatan LU ; Sabra, Sally LU ; Rylander, Lars LU orcid ; Rignell-Hydbom, Anna LU ; Lindh, Christian H. LU orcid and Giwercman, Aleksander LU (2018) In PLoS ONE 13(11). p.0207221-0207221
Abstract

BACKGROUND: Maternal smoking during pregnancy has repeatedly been associated with decreased sperm counts in sons. Nevertheless, our team recently detected a lower total sperm count in the sons of smoking fathers as compared to sons of non-smoking fathers. Since paternal and maternal tobacco smoking often coincide, it is difficult to discriminate whether effects are mediated paternally or maternally when using questionnaire- or register-based studies. Therefore, getting an objective measure of the maternal nicotine exposure level during pregnancy might help disentangling the impact of paternally and maternally derived exposure. OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to study how paternal smoking at the time of the pregnancy was associated with semen... (More)

BACKGROUND: Maternal smoking during pregnancy has repeatedly been associated with decreased sperm counts in sons. Nevertheless, our team recently detected a lower total sperm count in the sons of smoking fathers as compared to sons of non-smoking fathers. Since paternal and maternal tobacco smoking often coincide, it is difficult to discriminate whether effects are mediated paternally or maternally when using questionnaire- or register-based studies. Therefore, getting an objective measure of the maternal nicotine exposure level during pregnancy might help disentangling the impact of paternally and maternally derived exposure. OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to study how paternal smoking at the time of the pregnancy was associated with semen quality in the sons after adjusting for the maternal levels of nicotine exposure during pregnancy. METHODS: We recruited 104 men (17-20 years old) from the general Swedish population. The participants answered a questionnaire about paternal smoking. Associations between smoking and semen volume, total sperm count, sperm concentration, morphology and motility were adjusted for levels of the nicotine metabolite cotinine in stored maternal serum samples obtained from rubella screening between the 6th and 35th week of pregnancy. We additionally adjusted for the estimated socioeconomic status. RESULTS: After adjusting for the maternal cotinine, the men of smoking fathers had 41% lower sperm concentration and 51% lower total sperm count than the men of non-smoking fathers (p = 0.02 and 0.003, respectively). This was robust to the additional adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest a negative association between paternal smoking and sperm counts in the sons, independent of the level maternal nicotine exposure during the pregnancy.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
PLoS ONE
volume
13
issue
11
pages
0207221 - 0207221
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • pmid:30462692
  • scopus:85056952360
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0207221
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
49e844a0-d665-407a-8677-c5ea5dbd4364
date added to LUP
2018-11-29 14:27:33
date last changed
2024-07-09 01:04:48
@article{49e844a0-d665-407a-8677-c5ea5dbd4364,
  abstract     = {{<p>BACKGROUND: Maternal smoking during pregnancy has repeatedly been associated with decreased sperm counts in sons. Nevertheless, our team recently detected a lower total sperm count in the sons of smoking fathers as compared to sons of non-smoking fathers. Since paternal and maternal tobacco smoking often coincide, it is difficult to discriminate whether effects are mediated paternally or maternally when using questionnaire- or register-based studies. Therefore, getting an objective measure of the maternal nicotine exposure level during pregnancy might help disentangling the impact of paternally and maternally derived exposure. OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to study how paternal smoking at the time of the pregnancy was associated with semen quality in the sons after adjusting for the maternal levels of nicotine exposure during pregnancy. METHODS: We recruited 104 men (17-20 years old) from the general Swedish population. The participants answered a questionnaire about paternal smoking. Associations between smoking and semen volume, total sperm count, sperm concentration, morphology and motility were adjusted for levels of the nicotine metabolite cotinine in stored maternal serum samples obtained from rubella screening between the 6th and 35th week of pregnancy. We additionally adjusted for the estimated socioeconomic status. RESULTS: After adjusting for the maternal cotinine, the men of smoking fathers had 41% lower sperm concentration and 51% lower total sperm count than the men of non-smoking fathers (p = 0.02 and 0.003, respectively). This was robust to the additional adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest a negative association between paternal smoking and sperm counts in the sons, independent of the level maternal nicotine exposure during the pregnancy.</p>}},
  author       = {{Axelsson, Jonatan and Sabra, Sally and Rylander, Lars and Rignell-Hydbom, Anna and Lindh, Christian H. and Giwercman, Aleksander}},
  issn         = {{1932-6203}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{11}},
  pages        = {{0207221--0207221}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS ONE}},
  title        = {{Association between paternal smoking at the time of pregnancy and the semen quality in sons}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207221}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0207221}},
  volume       = {{13}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}