title: Smoking and Male Infertility: An Evidence-Based Review.
abstract: Many studies have reported that the contents of cigarette smoke negatively affect sperm parameters, seminal plasma, and various other fertility factors. Nevertheless, the actual effect of smoking on male fertility is not clear. The effect of smoking on semen parameters is based on the well-established biological finding that smoking increases the presence of reactive oxygen species, thereby resulting in oxidative stress (OS). OS has devastating effects on sperm parameters, such as viability and morphology, and impairs sperm function, hence reducing male fertility. However, not all studies have come to the same conclusions. This review sheds light upon the arguable association between smoking and male fertility and also assesses the impact of non-smoking routes of tobacco consumption on male infertility. It also highlights the evidence that links smoking with male infertility, including newly emerging genetic and epigenetic data, and discusses the clinical implications thereof.
authors.affiliation: American Center for Reproductive Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.; Fertility and In Vitro Fertilization Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Soroka University Medical Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel.
authors.forename: Avi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Harlev
authors.affiliation: American Center for Reproductive Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Ashok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.affiliation: American Center for Reproductive Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.; Department of Medical Biology, Ondokuz Mayis University Faculty of Medicine, Samsun, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sezgin Ozgur
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Gunes
authors.affiliation: American Center for Reproductive Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shetty
authors.affiliation: American Center for Reproductive Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.; Division of Medical Physiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg, South Africa.
authors.forename: Stefan Simon
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: du Plessis
keywords: Erectile dysfunction; Infertility, male; Smoking; Spermatogenesis; Spermatozoa