EFFECTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS ON HUMAN SEMEN QUALITY

We investigated the relationship between psychological stress and sper m concentration, motility, and morphometry in a prospective study of 1 57 volunteers who were enrolled in a prepaid health plan. We measured psychological job stress and life-event stress by telephone interview. Sperm-kinematic and nuclear-morphometric variables were measured usin g computer-assisted image analyses. Sperm concentration, percent motil ity, and semen volume were determined by objective visual methods. We performed multiple linear regression for each semen variable to examin e its relationship to stress, controlling for potential confounders. S tress at work and total number of life events were not related to diff erences in semen quality. However, the recent death of a close family member was associated with a reduction in straight-line velocity (P = 0.002) and percent of progressively motile sperm (P = 0.02); it was al so marginally associated with an increase in the fraction of sperm wit h larger and more tapered nuclei. These findings suggest that the fecu ndity of men experiencing the stress of a family member's death might be temporarily diminished.