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Self-reported sleep quality and oligo/astheno/teratozoospermia among men attending an infertility clinic: a longitudinal study

  • Sleep Breathing Physiology and Disorders • Original Article
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Abstract

Objective

We aimed to examine the influence of sleep disturbances on the risk of oligo/astheno/teratozoospermia (OAT) in men attending an infertility clinic.

Methods

We consecutively enrolled men attending an infertility clinic from July 2020 to June 2021. Semen parameters were obtained at initial presentation, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Epworth Sleepiness Scale score, and the STOP-BANG Questionnair were completed to assess sleep quality. Embryo outcomes were evaluated after infertility treatment.

Results

Of 466 men enrolled, 119 had OAT (OAT group) and 347 had normozoospermia (NS group). There were no differences between the two groups regarding Epworth Sleepiness Scale and STOP-BANG Questionnaire scores. The prevalence of poor sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score ≥ 5) in the OAT group was significantly higher than that in the NS group (42% vs. 29%, p = 0.009). A higher rate of poor subjective sleep quality was observed in the OAT group compared with the NS group (p = 0.005) and Pearson’s correlations revealed a negative relationship between subjective sleep quality and semen quality. Logistic regression found that subjective sleep quality was independently associated with an increased risk of OAT (adjusted odds ratio = 0.610, p = 0.007).

Conclusions

Men with OAT attending an infertility clinic exhibited poor subjective sleep quality. Improving sleep disturbances may be a target intervention to reduce the risk of OAT. This possibility warrants further investigation.

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Data availability

The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

OAT:

Oligo/astheno/teratozoospermia

NS:

Normozoospermia

PSQI:

Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index

ESS:

Epworth Sleepiness Scale

IVF:

In vitro fertilization

ICSI:

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection

BMI:

Body mass index

PR:

Progressive motility

NC:

Neck circumference

PR:

Progressive motility

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Acknowledgements

We thank Benjamin Knight, MSc., from Liwen Bianji (Edanz) (www.liwenbianji.cn/) for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.

Funding

The work was supported by Fujian Provincial Health Technology Project (No. 2020GGA044) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81900090).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Xue-Fen Cai, Jian-Ming Zhao and Yi-Song Yang contributed equally to this article.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital College of Clinical Medicine for Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China

    Xue-Fen Cai

  2. Fujian Provincial Sleep-Disordered Breathing Clinic Center, NO 20, Chazhong Road, Taijiang District, Fuzhou, 350005, Fujian Province, People’s Republic of China

    Jian-Ming Zhao, Yi-Song Yang, Cai-Yun Wang, Mei-**n Nian, Jie-Feng Huang & Bi-Ying Wang

  3. Institute of Respiratory Disease, Fujian Medical University, NO 20, Chazhong Road, Taijiang District, Fuzhou, 350005, Fujian Province, People’s Republic of China

    Jie-Feng Huang & Bi-Ying Wang

  4. Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, NO 20, Chazhong Road, Taijiang District, Fuzhou, 350005, Fujian Province, People’s Republic of China

    Jie-Feng Huang & Bi-Ying Wang

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Contributions

Xue-Fen Cai: study design and preparation of the manuscript; Jian-Ming Zhao: analyzed data; Yi-Song Yang: experiments; Cai-Yun Wang and Mei-**n Nian: collected data; Bi-Ying Wang: study design, experiments, and manuscript preparation; Jie-feng Huang: sequence/data analysis and preparation of the manuscript; Xue-Fen Cai and Jian-Ming Zhao: contributed equally to this work. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jie-Feng Huang or Bi-Ying Wang.

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Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital (approval no.2021KLRD09036).

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Cai, XF., Zhao, JM., Yang, YS. et al. Self-reported sleep quality and oligo/astheno/teratozoospermia among men attending an infertility clinic: a longitudinal study. Sleep Breath 27, 1465–1471 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-022-02756-2

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