the impact of opium dependence and cigarette smoking on human semen parameters

introduction: to examine the effects of opium dependence and cigarette smoking on semen quality and sperm parameters, the semen quality of men who abuse opiates and/or smoke cigarettes was investigated in a retrospective study. methods: male partners of 1325 infertile couples attending the infertility clinic for intrauterine insemination (iui) procedure were divided into non-smoking non-opium (ns/no), smoking and non-opium (s/no), non-smoking and opium (ns/o), smoking and opium (s/o), and opium dependence regardless of smoking status (o/rs) groups. two samples were collected from each subject and were analyzed in accordance to who criteria. results: subjects in different groups were comparable regarding mean age, duration of abstinence, and familial history of infertility, whereas duration of infertility was longer in all groups than in ns/no group (p< 0.05). the volume of semen, liquefaction time and ph differed significantly between s/no and ns/no groups (p< 0.05). in addition, more men in s/no group were diagnosed to be teratozoospermic than other groups (p=0.018). sperm progression was significantly lower in ns/o than in ns/no group (p< 0.05). conclusion: these findings suggest that opium dependence and cigarette smoking alter semen and sperm production and quality differently.