SEMEN QUALITY AND FERTILITY OF MEN EMPLOYED IN A SOUTH-AFRICAN LEAD-ACID-BATTERY PLANT

Previous studies of the associations of measures of occupational lead exposure with measures of semen quality and infertility among male wor kers have produced conflicting results. The current study was undertak en to examine these associations among a population of workers with a broad range of measures of current and historical lend exposure. Ninet y-seven lead-exposed workers from a South African lead acid battery fa cility provided semen samples that were analyzed for sperm density, sp erm count, sperm motility, sperm morphology, and presence of antisperm antibodies. Questionnaire data were collected for reported histories of sub- Or infertility. Current blood leads ranged from 28 to 93 mu g/ dl. Semen lead ranged from 1 to 87 mu g/dl. Reasonably consistent and significant associations were found between art increased percentage o f sperm with abnormal morphology and higher measures of current blood lead cumulative blood lead and duration of exposure. An increased perc ent of immotile sperm was associated only with zinc protoporphyrin (ZP P) among the lend exposure measures. There were no associations of spe rm density or sperm count with arty of the lead exposure measures. A w eak association of increased percent of sperm with antisperm antibodie s with increased semen lead was present. There were no consistent asso ciations of measures of lead exposure with measures of fertility or pr ocreativity. This study, while supporting the association of lead expo sure with increased risk of abnormal sperm morphology seen in some pre vious studies, does not lend support to previously reported associatio ns of sperm density or count or infertility with measures of lead expo sure. However the relatively high range of current blood leads, high p revalence of abnormalities in semen quality, and the lack of a control population, suggest that these negative findings should be interprete d with caution. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.