title: Within-subject variability and the importance of abstinence period for sperm count, semen volume and pre-freeze and post-thaw motility.
abstract: The within-subject variability of semen sperm count (n), volume (v), total number of spermatozoa (N) and pre-freeze (mo) and post-thaw (m1) motility was studied on 564 ejaculates from 98 normal subjects after an abstinence ranging from 1 to 5 days. After logarithmic transformation of n, v and N, the within-subject variances for each variable were found to be similar for all subjects; the within-subject centered distributions were nearly normal and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. These three variables appeared to increase linearly with the length of abstinence. For both mo and m1, the within-subject variances were also similar for all subjects and this without logarithmic transformation. Their respective within-subject centered distributions were normal; mo and m1 were not influenced by the length of abstinence during the period studied.
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D012661:Semen; D012662:Semen Preservation; D012746:Sexual Abstinence; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D013076:Sperm Count; D013081:Sperm Motility; D013997:Time Factors