ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2010
Environmental/lifestyle effects on spermatogenesis.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 105 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
105 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 346 citations in OpenAlex.
- Temporal trends in equine sperm progressive motility: a systematic review and meta-regression.Reproduction (Cambridge, England) · 2023Pooled it
- Protective effects of melatonin against the toxic effects of environmental pollutants and heavy metals on testicular tissue: A systematic review and meta-analysis of animal studies.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Pooled it
- Hazards of diethyl phthalate (DEP) exposure: A systematic review of animal toxicology studies.Environment international · 2020Pooled it
- Is low body mass index a risk factor for semen quality? A PRISMA-compliant meta-analysis.Medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Association of prenatal and childhood environment smoking exposure with puberty timing: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2018Pooled it
- Studying the impact of early life exposures to pesticides on the risk of testicular germ cell tumors during adulthood (TESTIS project): study protocol.BMC cancer · 2014Trial
- Can we predict which cryptorchidism will descend? A cohort study in 976 Korean neonates.Investigative and clinical urology · 2026Article
- Basal body docking failure triggers centriole clustering and elimination in mammalian spermatogenesis.EMBO reports · 2026Article
- Global burden of male infertility from 1990 to 2021 and 15 years forecast: A cross-sectional analysis of Global Burden of Disease Study 2021.Chinese medical journal · 2026Article
- The Global Decline in Sperm Count and Testosterone Levels: Trends, Mechanisms, and Environmental Drivers.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Microplastics and male reproductive system: A comprehensive review based on cellular and molecular effects.Toxicology reports · 2026Review
- A Mechanistic Insight into the Autophagy Induced by Cadmium and Other Heavy Metals in Testes.Biological trace element research · 2026Review
- Article
- Testicular ergonomics: whole-body vibration, mechanotransduction, and male reproductive health in heavy machinery operators.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Case Report: Reappearance of spermatozoa following multicomponent lifestyle modification in men with previously diagnosed azoospermia: a case series.Frontiers in urology · 2026Article
- Loss of cilia drives centriole clustering and elimination during mammalian spermatogenesis.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Exploring geographical differences in semen quality of young men using spatial dependence analysis.Human reproduction (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- Unveiling the nexus between environmental exposures and testicular damages: revelations from autophagy and oxidative stress imbalance.Cell death discovery · 2025Review
- Comparison of reproductive performance and functional analysis of spermatogenesis factors between domestic yak and semi-wild blood yak.BMC genomics · 2025Article
- Ambient climatic conditions and semen quality: a comparative analysis across the periods before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Article
45 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The high incidence of low sperm counts in young (European) men and evidence for declining sperm counts in recent decades mean that the environmental/lifestyle impact on spermatogenesis is an important health issue. This review assesses potential causes involving adverse effects on testis development in perinatal life (primarily effects on Sertoli cell number), which are probably irreversible, or effects on the process of spermatogenesis in adulthood, which are probably mainly reversible. Several lifestyle-related (obesity, smoking) and environmental (exposure to traffic exhaust fumes, dioxins, combustion products) factors appear to negatively affect both the perinatal and adult testes, emphasizing the importance of environmental/lifestyle impacts throughout the life course. Apart from this, public concern about adverse effects of environmental chemicals (ECs) (pesticides, food additives, persistent pollutants such as DDT, polychlorinated biphenyls) on spermatogenesis in adult men are, in general, not supported by the available data for humans. Where adverse effects of ECs have been shown, they are usually in an occupational setting rather than applying to the general population. In contrast, a modern Western lifestyle (sedentary work/lifestyle, obesity) is potentially damaging to sperm production. Spermatogenesis in normal men is poorly organized and inefficient so that men are poorly placed to cope with environmental/lifestyle insults.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.