Headlines - Spatio-temporal trends in sperm quality in France

The journal Reproduction has just published the results of a study conducted by the InVS on spatiotemporal trends in sperm quality in France. This work builds on the study conducted by the Institute and published in December 2012 in the journal Human Reproduction. That initial study concluded that sperm quality in France (sperm concentration and morphology) had declined in a sample representative of the general population between 1989 and 2005. The results show that sperm concentration and morphological quality have declined in nearly all regions, with a more significant decrease in Aquitaine and Midi-Pyrénées. Sperm motility, on the other hand, increased slightly across all regions with the exception of Burgundy, which showed the opposite trend. The overall similarity of the trends observed from one region to another suggests the involvement of a factor that affected nearly the entire population. One possible explanation is the population’s increasing exposure to endocrine disruptors since the 1950s. Furthermore, the regions where the trends toward decreased concentration and morphological quality are most pronounced are areas with significant wine-growing activity, which may be the source of occupational or environmental exposure to pesticides. Regarding the factors that could be responsible for the observed trends, this purely observational study cannot draw definitive conclusions about the role of one or more factors. It does, however, allow for a comparison of the observed results with the various hypotheses currently existing regarding factors influencing sperm quality.