Men With Chronic HBV Often Have Poorer Sperm Quality

Men with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection are more likely to have poorer sperm quality, according to a recent study.

For their study, the researchers assessed 231 men with chronic HBV and 1641 men without HBV, of whom all had received assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment.
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Sperm parameters that were evaluated for each sperm sample prior to treatment included concentration, motility and morphology, DNA fragmentation (SDF), sperm-nucleoprotein transition, and acrosin activity. SDF was analyzed via sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA). Variables between groups were compared using students’ t-test or chi-square. A Spearman analysis was conducted to assess further correlations between the parameters of sperm quality and HBV infection.

Results indicated that men with HBV demonstrated significantly lower sperm concentration and motility vs controls. Furthermore, HBV infection seemed to affect sperm integrity, with an SDF of 30% or higher more frequently observed in men with HBV (14.7%) vs controls (8.3%). However, there was no difference between groups in sperm morphology.

The Spearman analysis yielded similar results, indicating that the presence of HBV infection was positively correlated with SDF and negatively correlated with sperm concentration and motility. Sperm acrosin activity was significantly lower in men with HBV. However, according to SCSA analysis, the presence of HBV infection did not appear to affect the parameters of sperm high DNA stainable (HDS) or the sperm-uncleoprotein transition.

“HBV positive men may [be more likely] to have lower sperm quality,” the researchers concluded. “And chronic HBV infection may not only affect classic semen parameters but also have adverse influences on the sperm DNA structure and [function-related] parameters.”

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Zheng J, Jin J. Adverse effects of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection on human sperm quality. Fertil Sterility. 2017;108(3):e134.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2017.07.404.