Mobile phones negatively affect male fertility, new study suggests 手機負面影響男性生育

Public Release: 9-Jun-2014

Editor’s note: It is not just a matter of whether you are going to be childless or not. The mobile phone radiation can cause damage to the sperm genes and induce mutations that can lead to health problems in his offspring. Another potential is that boys exposed to the radiation may alter their genetics and then generate unhealthy sperms later in their adulthood. So it is not just adult men who need protection. Boys need the protection too.

編者註：這不僅取決於您是否會沒有孩子。 手機輻射會導致精子基因受損，並引起突變，從而導致其後代的健康問題。 另一個潛在的可能性是，暴露在輻射下的男孩可能會改變其遺傳學，並在成年後產生不健康的精子。 因此，不僅需要成年男子的保護。 男孩也需要保護。

University of Exeter

Men who keep a mobile phone in their trouser pocket could be inadvertently damaging their chances of becoming a father, according to a new study led by the University of Exeter.

Previous research has suggested that Radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMR) emitted by the devices can have a detrimental effect on male fertility. Most of the global adult population own mobile phones, and around 14% of couples in high and middle income countries have difficulty conceiving.

A team led by Dr Fiona Mathews, of Biosciences at the University of Exeter, conducted a systematic review of the findings from ten studies, including 1,492 samples, with the aim of clarifying the potential role of this environmental exposure.

Participants in the studies were from fertility clinics and research centres, and sperm quality was measured in three different ways: motility (the ability of sperm to move properly towards an egg), viability (the proportion of sperm that were alive) and concentration (the number of sperm per unit of semen).

In control groups, 50-85% of sperm have normal movement. The researchers found this proportion fell by an average of 8 percentage points when there was exposure to mobile phones. Similar effects were seen for sperm viability. The effects on sperm concentration were less clear.

Dr Mathews said: “Given the enormous scale of mobile phone use around the world, the potential role of this environmental exposure needs to be clarified. This study strongly suggests that being exposed to radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation from carrying mobiles in trouser pockets negatively affects sperm quality. This could be particularly important for men already on the borderline of infertility, and further research is required to determine the full clinical implications for the general population.”

The results were consistent across in vitro studies conducted under controlled conditions and observational in vivo studies conducted on men in the general population.

“Effect of mobile telephones on sperm quality: a systematic review and meta-analysis” by Fiona Mathews et al is published today in the journal Environment International. ###

埃克塞特大學

根據埃克塞特大學領導的一項新研究，將手機放在褲子口袋裡的男人可能會無意中破壞了他們成為父親的機會。

先前的研究表明，設備發射的射頻電磁輻射（RF-EMR）會對男性的生育能力產生有害影響。全球大多數成年人擁有手機，高收入和中等收入國家中約有14％的夫婦難以受孕。

埃克塞特大學生物科學專業的Fiona Mathews博士領導的一個小組對包括1,492個樣品在內的十項研究的結果進行了系統的回顧，目的是弄清這種環境暴露的潛在作用。

研究的參與者來自生育診所和研究中心，並且精子質量以三種不同的方式進行測量：運動性（精子向卵子正常移動的能力），生存力（存活的精子比例）和濃度（精子的數量）。每單位精液的精子數量）。

在對照組中，有50-85％的精子可以正常運動。研究人員發現，當接觸手機時，這一比例平均下降了8個百分點。精子活力也有類似的效果。對精子濃度的影響尚不清楚。

馬修斯博士說：“鑑於全球範圍內大量使用手機，需要弄清這種環境暴露的潛在作用。這項研究強烈表明，暴露於褲子口袋中攜帶手機的射頻電磁輻射會對精子質量產生負面影響。對於已經處於不育症邊緣的男性而言，這可能尤為重要，還需要進一步研究以確定對普通人群的全部臨床意義。”

在受控條件下進行的體外研究與對普通人群中的男性進行的體內觀察性研究結果一致。

Fiona Mathews等人的“移動電話對精子質量的影響：系統的綜述和薈萃分析”今天發表在《環境國際》雜誌上。 ###