Do Lifestyle and Physical Factors Influence Fertility Potential and Assisted Reproduction Outcomes in Infertile Men?

The effects of lifestyle and physical factors on male fertility potential are controversial and these disagreements have increased public and research attention. This study was planned to evaluate the effects of modifiable lifestyle and physical factors on the semen quality and assisted reproductive outcomes. This prospective study evaluated lifestyle and physical factors in 306 infertile men under an assisted reproductive program such as body mass index, age, abstinence time, tobacco smoking, varicocele treatment, physical activity, caffeine consumption, and the use of cell phones, as well as sperm chromatin integrity and condensation, semen parameters, and assisted reproductive outcomes between 2016 and 2018. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 20 and CorrelationAttributeEval and Ranker modules of WEKA software were applied to evaluate the effect of each feature/factor of men on the biochemical pregnancy rate. A negative association was seen between the total sperm count and abstinence time (< 3 days, P = 0.02) and caffeine consumption (> 4 cups/d, P = 0.03). A decreased sperm concentration, normal morphology, motility, and chromatin normality were found in the categories of older age (> 35-years-old) and elevated BMI (> 30, P = 0.03). The poor embryo quality (grade D) and increased spontaneous abortion were found in men with high age, BMI, caffeine consumers, and smokers. The effects of smoking, age, and BMI weighed more than the effects of other parameters on biochemical pregnancy. Factors such as aging, elevated BMI, smoking, and high consumption of caffeine via affecting sperm parameters and increasing DNA damage may affect assisted reproductive outcomes (e.g., poor embryo quality and high abortion).