How Smoking Impacts Male Fertility and Semen Quality

Cigarette smoking has been proven to decrease the amount of semen a male can produce. In addition, smoking can lead to a decrease in the overall viability of individual spermatozoa.

Features

• Smokers have a sperm density of between 22 and 57 percent less than that of nonsmokers. In addition, the mobility of the average sperm is about 20 percent less of that of a non-smoker.

Significance

• The decrease in sperm density and mobility of individual sperms can lead to infertility in men. Additionally, according to a study done at the University of Bath, smoking can mutate a sperm's DNA and lead to birth defects, cancer and genetic diseases in an infant.

Figures

• According to a study done at the National Institute of Health, cigarette smoking decreased the density and mobility of sperm in a study of 103 smokers and 135 non-smokers. The difference was evident, with 75 percent of smokers having a sperm density of 40 x 10million sperm/ml compared to only 26 percent of nonsmokers.