Effect of Alcohol on Clinical Outcomes and Its Relationship with Semen Parameters

The incidence of infertility is 10%-15% globally and this has risen in recent years. Alcohol has been consumed inIndia for centuries, both in rural and urban areas, with prevalence rates ranging from 20% to 38% in males, according to variousreports. Studies in northern India found the 1 year prevalence of alcohol use to be between 25% and 40%. In southern India, theprevalence of current alcohol use varies between 33% and 50%, with a higher prevalence among the lesser educated and thepoor. Aim: To determine the effect of alcohol on seminal parameters. Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Morpheus LucknowFertility Center, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Time duration: From January 2017 to December 2020. Sample size: Total 130 patientsconsisting of 57 patients as nonalcoholic control and 73 patients as alcoholic. Main outcome measure(s): The outcome of interestwas seminal parameters, including count, motility, volume and morphology. Method: The study included two subject groups,controls and alcoholics. Subjects in the control group were volunteers who were free from any disease and who had neverconsumed alcoholic drinks and who had never smoked. Subjects in the alcoholic group were nonsmokers who had consumeda minimum of 180 mL of alcohol (brandy and whisky, both 40%-50% alcohol content) per day for a minimum of 5 days perweek in the past year. Semen samples were collected after at least 48 hours but no more than 7 days of sexual abstinence. Semenparameters - volume, count, motility and morphology - were analyzed. Results: In the alcoholic group, volume (p < 0.005),count (p < 0.005), percentage of rapid progressively motile sperm (p < 0.005), were statistically significantly decreased, whilepercentage of nonprogressive sperm and percentage of immotile sperm (p < 0.005) were statistically significantly increased,compared with the control group. The percentages of slow progressively motile sperm and morphology were not statisticallysignificant. Conclusions: The present study found statistically significant results that chronic alcoholism suppresses semenquality, at the seminiferous tubular level. Alcohol decreases semen volume, total sperm concentration, motility of sperm andviability of sperm. This study has proved beyond doubt that chronic alcohol consumption has a detrimental effect on the qualityof semen, which in turn, may have effect on their reproductive outcomes.