Association of essential element mixtures with semen quality in Shanghai, China

The essential elements, is basal components for body, raising concerns about semen quality. This study evaluated the potential correlations between concentrations of essential element mixtures with semen quality. 873 volunteers were recruited from the human sperm bank in Shanghai, China. Linear regression models, restricted cubic spline (RCS), quantile g-computation (QGC), and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) were performed to assess the associations of single and multiple essential elements with semen quality. The findings indicated that Mo is positively correlated with sperm progressive motility; V is negatively correlated with semen volume and total sperm count; Cu is negatively correlated with sperm concentration in linear regression model. Furthermore, BKMR model showed that essential element mixture was negatively correlated with normal sperm morphology, semen volume and total sperm count, respectively. These findings suggested V and Cu might exert potential harmful to semen quality. Further prospective studies are needed to verify this exploratory finding.