Are urinary bisphenol A levels in men related to semen quality and embryo development after medically assisted reproduction?

Objective: To evaluate whether urinary bisphenol A (BPA) levels in men adversely influence semen quality and embryo development after medically assisted reproduction.
Design: Prospective, cohort study.
Setting: University-based tertiary care center.
Patient(s): A total of 149 couples undergoing their first or second IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) procedure.
Intervention(s): None.
Main Outcome Measure(s): Semen quality and embryo development parameters until the blastocyst stage after the IVF or ICSI procedure.
Result(s): Bisphenol A was detected in 98% (n = 146) of the samples with 0.1 ng/mL limit of detection. The geometric mean BPA concentration was 1.55 ng/mL. After the adjustment for potential confounders using linear regression models, an increase of natural logarithm transformed urinary BPA concentration was associated with lower natural logarithm transformed sperm count (β = -0.241, 95% confidence interval [CI] -0.470 to -0.012), natural logarithm transformed sperm concentration (β = -0.219, 95% CI -0.436 to -0.003), and sperm vitality (β = -2.660, 95% CI -4.991 to -0.329). The embryo development parameters from oocyte fertilization to the blastocyst formation stage were not affected by BPA exposure.
Conclusion(s): Urinary BPA concentrations in male partners of subfertile couples may influence semen quality parameters, but do not affect embryo development up to the blastocyst stage after medically assisted reproduction.
(Copyright © 2014 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)