Occupational risk factors and frequency of sex chromosome disomy

Possible reproductive toxicants such as occupational factors may affect the normal disjunction of chromosomes during meiosis, thereby altering the number of chromosomes in sperm nuclei. The purpose of the present analysis was to determine whether exposure to occupational factors existing in a contemporary work setting affected sperm aneuploidy. The study population consisted of 212 men who attended the infertility clinic for diagnostic purposes. The men either had a normal semen concentration of 20-300 million/ml or slight oligozoospermia (semen concentration of 15-20 million/ml) ( WHO 1999 ). All participants were interviewed and provided a semen sample. Sperm aneuploidy was assessed using multicolor FISH. After adjustment for potential confounders, positive associations were found between disomy XY18, 18, and sex chromosome disomy and exposure to mechanical vibrations (p = 0.03, p = 0.04, p = 0.03, respectively). In addition, sitting for more than 6 h at work increased X and Y disomy (p = 0.03, p = 0.04, respectively). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show a significant effect of occupational factors on sperm aneuploidy. As such, the results need to be confirmed in larger studies.