Sperm DNA fragmentation comparison between smokers and non-smokers as measured by sperm chromatin dispersion test

Abstract

Sperm DNA fragmentation has been shown to be associated with unexplained infertility, failure of assisted reproduction and recurrent miscarriages. Smoking has the potential to be associated with high sperm DNA fragmentation. However, the associations were only seen in some studies but not in others. This is a comparative cross-sectional study, involving 32 smokers and 32 non-smokers to determine the association between cigarette smoking and sperm DNA fragmentation using sperm chromatin dispersion test. Semen samples were collected from patients undergoing seminal fluid analysis (SFA) at IIUM Fertility Centre and O&G Clinic, IIUM Medical Centre from January 2017 to June 2018. DNA fragmentation index (DFI) level of 15% was taken as the upper limit of normal. The median and interquartile range for smokers were 15.30 and 19.0 (10.425 – 29.375) respectively while for non-smokers were 8.25 and 17.8 (4.075 – 21.850), which is statistically significant (p= 0.012). It is also noted that 4 participants in the smoker group (12.5%) have very high sperm DFI of more than 60% even though their SFA were normal. In conclusion, there is a significantly higher sperm DNA fragmentation in smokers (p=0.012) compared to non-smokers. The prevalence of high DFI in the smoker group is 53.1% compared to 34.4% in non-smokers