REPRODUCTIVE FUNCTION IN RELATION TO DUTY ASSIGNMENTS AMONG MILITARY PERSONNEL

As a follow-up to the pilot study of semen quality of soldiers with va rious military assignments a larger, more complete study was conducted . Soldiers were recruited at Fort Hood, Texas. Thirty-three men were e xposed to radar as part of their duty assignment in the Signal Corps, 57 men were involved with firing the 155 mm howitzer (potential lead e xposure), and 103 soldiers had neither lead nor radar exposure and ser ved as the comparison control group. Both serum and urinary follicle-s timulating hormone and luteinizing hormone and serum, salivary, and ur ine testosterone levels were determined in all men. A complete semen a nalysis was conducted on each soldier. For statistical analysis, the p rimary study variables were: sperm concentration, sperm/ejaculate, sem en volume, percent normal morphology, percent motile, percent viable ( both vital stain and hypoosmotic swelling), curvilinear velocity, stra ight-line velocity, linearity, sperm head length, width, area, and per imeter. Variables were adjusted for significant confounders (e.g., abs tinence, sample age, race). No statistical differences (P < 0.05) were observed in any measurement. While these results are in agreement wit h two previous studies assessing soldiers firing the 155-mm howitzer, they contradict our previous report indicating that radar exposure cau sed a significant decrease in sperm numbers. A possible explanation is that the radar exposure in this study was that used in Signal Corps o perations while the men in the previous study were using different rad ar as part of military intelligence operations. The data presented her e in men firing the 155-mm howitzer combined with the results from the previous studies confirms that there are no deficits in semen quality in these men. The contradiction between the results of the radar expo sure studies indicates that more data are needed to evaluate the relat ionship of military radar and male reproductive health. (C) 1998 Elsev ier Science Inc.