Age-related changes in human conventional semen parameters and SCSA defined sperm DNA/chromatin integrity

ABSTRACT Research question What are the correlations between male age, traditional semen parameters, the sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) and high DNA stainability (HDS) in a sufficiently large sample size with a continuous age spectrum? Design A retrospective cohort study of 18441 semen samples from men aged 17-71 years was conducted at a large reproductive medicine centre. Data were divided into seven age groups according to male age: ≤25 y, 26-30 y, 31-35 y, 36-40 y, 41-45 y, 46-50 y and ≥51 y. Results Age was negatively correlated with semen volume, total sperm count, motility, and HDS and positively correlated with sperm concentration and DFI (P Conclusions Ageing is a negative effector of sperm quantity and quality, and routine sperm parameters have weak but significant correlations with sperm DNA/chromatin integrity.