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Cited by 15Sperm and Testicular FunctionPrenatal Substance Exposure EffectsSmoking Behavior and Cessation

Association between paternal smoking at the time of pregnancy and the semen quality in sons

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Axelsson, Jonatan, Sabra, Sally, Rylander, Lars, Rignell-Hydbom, Anna, Lindh, Christian H., Giwercman, Aleksander·2018·PLOS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0207221PMC PMC6248964
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Maternal smoking during pregnancy has repeatedly been associated with decreased sperm counts in sons. Nevertheless, our team recently detected a lower total sperm count in the sons of smoking fathers as compared to sons of non-smoking fathers. Since paternal and maternal tobacco smoking often coincide, it is difficult to discriminate whether effects are mediated paternally or maternally when using questionnaire- or register-based studies. Therefore, getting an objective measure of the maternal nicotine exposure level during pregnancy might help disentangling the impact of paternally and maternally derived exposure. OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to study how paternal smoking at the time of the pregnancy was associated with semen quality in the sons after adjusting for the maternal levels of nicotine exposure during pregnancy. METHODS: We recruited 104 men (17-20 years old) from the general Swedish population. The participants answered a questionnaire about paternal smoking. Associations between smoking and semen volume, total sperm count, sperm concentration, morphology and motility were adjusted for levels of the nicotine metabolite cotinine in stored maternal serum samples obtained from rubella screening between the 6th and 35th week of pregnancy. We additionally adjusted for the estimated socioeconomic status. RESULTS: After adjusting for the maternal cotinine, the men of smoking fathers had 41% lower sperm concentration and 51% lower total sperm count than the men of non-smoking fathers (p = 0.02 and 0.003, respectively). This was robust to the additional adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest a negative association between paternal smoking and sperm counts in the sons, independent of the level maternal nicotine exposure during the pregnancy.

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  • Cotinine was analysed using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry with a limit of detection of 0.4 ng/ml and a coefficient of variation of 2% at 48 ng/ml, as part of a quality control program.

    “Cotinine was analysed in the urine samples from 396 of the men, using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS; QTRAP5500, AB Sciex, Framingham, MA, USA) with a modified serum method 20 , 21 at the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Lund University. The limit of detection was 0.4 ng/ml, and the coefficient of variation at 48 ng/ml was 2%. The analysis of cotinin”

    From Decreased sperm counts in Swedish users of oral tobacco (2022) · cites this paper as [21]

    The Materials and methods section (‘Analysis in maternal serum samples’; page unavailable) reports LC–MS/MS cotinine analysis, a 0.4 ng/mL detection limit, and a 2% coefficient of variation at 48 ng/mL. It describes maternal serum samples, not the citing paper’s urine samples, and does not say the analysis was part of a quality control program. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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Research works printed but not linked: 32

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Cited by

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Authors
Axelsson, J., Sabra, S., Rylander, L., Rignell-Hydbom, A., Lindh, C. H., & Giwercman, A.
Affiliations
Lund University (SE)
Corresponding author
Axelsson, Jonatan
ORCID
Venue
PLOS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2018-11-21
Volume
13
Issue
11
Pages
e0207221
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0207221
PMC
PMC6248964
OpenAlex
W2900622447
Cited by
15
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1
FWCI
1.03
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Lund University Publications (Lund University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Vetenskapsrådet (2007-2590)
  • Cancerfonden (CAN 2012/661)
  • Swedish Governmental Funding for Clinical Research
  • Skane county council’s research and development foundation (REGSKANE-58821, -120081, -192641, -270931, -350291 and -430661)
  • Barncancerfonden (PROJ10/030)
  • MAS and Skane University Hospital Funds
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Sperm and Testicular Function
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Prenatal Substance Exposure Effects
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Smoking Behavior and Cessation
Keywords
paternal smoking, semen quality, sperm count, sperm concentration, sperm motility, sperm morphology, cotinine, maternal nicotine exposure, pregnancy, offspring
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Cotinine, Fathers, Female, Humans, Male, Nuclear Family, Pregnancy, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects, Smoking, Sweden, Maternal Exposure, Paternal Exposure, Semen Analysis, Young Adult

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