P-158: Effect of Occupational Exposures on Male Fertility

Background: Occupational exposures do have a negative impact on the male reproductive system, but sometimes it is difficult to isolate a single insult. Workers can be exposed to a number of harmful physical, chemical and psychological factors in their working environment. During recent years, the various diseases and disorders caused by these stressors have drawn the attention of a number of researchers throughout the world. The effect of certain working hazards on the human reproductive system is one of the areas that have been studied and a number of reports concerning this have been published in this field. Materials and Methods: Through a descriptive study 1572 males who referred to the Infertility Research Center in Iran were selected. According to participants’ occupations and considering similar occupational exposures, twelve occupational categories were derived. The study consisted of questionnaires completed by trained interviewers to provide information about demographics, marital status, type and duration of infertility, occupational history including job title and task, and exposure to occupational physical hazards. The semen analysis method in this study was computerassisted semen analysis (CASA). The relationships between semen parameters, age and body mass index (BMI) were investigated using Spearman non-parametric correlation. Analysis of variance was used to compare semen parameters between occupational groups. Data analysis was done by SPSS 19 software. Results: There were no statistically significant differences in the mean sperm count or sperm morphology between occupational categories. Assessment of the differences in the frequency of sperm motility classes between occupational categories revealed a significant difference only in the frequency of sperm with class B motility. The following physical exposures were shown to deteriorate sperm parameters radiation (both ionized and microwaves) and heat. Our findings support the results of previous studies. Conclusion: This study could help hazardous jobs and factors to be recognized (both chemical and physical) in association with infertility in men and can be referred to as a resource for other analytical studies concerning all factors influencing infertility. Workers' safety and commitment to the safety principles in the workplace can keep infertility factors at a minimum level.