title: Feasibility of surveillance of changes in human fertility and semen quality.
abstract: To show that male fertility is declining is not simple. Few men volunteer and recruitment bias may lead to over-representation of the subfertile. Semen analysis has errors arising from counting and poorly standardized criteria, which may be overcome by automation. Time to pregnancy (TTP)-the number of menstrual cycles taken to conceive-measures fertility and allows male recruitment bias to be estimated. We review automated measurement of sperm concentration, motility and morphology and present a preliminary report on a study to assess a retrospective TTP questionnaire, recruitment bias and feasibility for large-scale surveillance of fertility.
authors.affiliation: University of Melbourne Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Royal Women's Hospital, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Garrett
authors.forename: G N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: E H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Venn
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Mbizvo
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Farley
mesh_terms: D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012661:Semen