title: [Investigation of semen quality of 18-35 year old Chinese army men].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the semen quality of the Chinese army men.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten-item sperm quality analyses were made by manual methods and the computer assisted sperm analysis system in 1054 young Chinese army men. The subjects were divided into 4 age groups (18-20 yrs., 21-25 yrs., 26-30 yrs and 31-35 yrs.), and the results of the analyses were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 1 054 young males investigated, the semen volume was (2.6 +/- 1.4) ml, sperm density (55.9 +/- 46.5) x 10(6)/ml, sperm grade a + b motility (47.1 +/- 19.0)%, sperm viability (70.6 +/- 22.1)%, morphologically normal sperm (84.7 +/- 10.2)%, and acrosomal integrity (86.1 +/- 7.2)%. As for the percentages of the quality indexes that met WHO standards, the sperm volume was 73.5%, liquefaction time 91.1%, pH 93.0%, grade a + b motility 45.5%, viability 86.7%, sperm density 80.4%, morphologically normal sperm 98.2%, and the sperm total number 78.0%. Those who accorded with all the WHO standards accounted for 40.2%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The semen quality of the 18-35 year old army men was better than previously reported in the similar literature. And that of the 26-30 yrs. group was the best among all the age groups.
authors.affiliation: PLA Institute of Birth Control and Birth Health, No. 202 Hospital of PLA, Shenyang, Liaoning 110003, China. yicongtang@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Su-wen
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xi-liang
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hai-ou
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Meng-xing
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012661:Semen / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D013076:Sperm Count; D013081:Sperm Motility