title: Workplace exposures and male infertility - a case-control study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examined the association between male infertility and certain occupational exposures.
  
  
  METHODS
  A case-control study was carried out from January 2008 to February 2009; on 255 infertile men and 267 fertile men controls. Occupational exposure to certain chemical, physical and psychological workplace hazards was assessed by self-report questionnaire. General and andrological examination was conducted for all participants, however, semen analysis was done only for the infertile men cases, because the fertile men controls refused to give semen samples.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After adjustment of confounders, the results revealed that the following workplace exposure factors significantly increased the risk of male infertility: solvents and painting materials (OR: 3.88, 95% CI: 1.50-10.03), lead (OR: 5.43, 95% CI: 1.28-23.13), VDTs and computers (OR: 8.01, 95% CI: 4.03-15.87), shift work (OR: 3.60, 95% CI: 1.12-11.57) and work-related stress (fairly present: OR: 3.11, 95% CI: 1.85-5.24; often present: OR: 3.76, 95% CI: 1.96-7.52).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In spite of the limitations of this study, it supports other studies that raise the attention to minimize the exposure to the workplace hazards that may affect the fertility of male workers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Mansoura, Mansoura, Egypt. mhelaly72@gmail.com
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: El-Helaly
authors.forename: Nabil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Awadalla
authors.forename: Moheb
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mansour
authors.forename: Yousef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: El-Biomy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012661:Semen / Q000737:chemistry; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult