Effect of cell phone usage and clinical correlates of male factor infertility amongst men attending infertility clinic in Benin City, Edo State Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Presently around us today in our world, there is high demand for phones and little or nothing has been said in Nigeria about the over usage and linking it to it influence on male factor infertility. Objectives: This study aims to determine the effect of cell phone use and clinical correlates of male factor infertility amongst couples attending infertility clinic in Benin City. Methods: The study is a prospective, descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Central Hospital Benin City. A cross-section of Three hundred and fifty-five (355) male partners of women who present with infertility at the gynaecological clinic were interviewed and physically examined. The Cell-phone Over-use Scale (COS) was used for mobile cell-phone addiction data which is a validated instrument with a reliability more than 90%. The semen sample was obtained by masturbation into a sterile wide-mouthed plastic container. Data was analysed using the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and the level of significance is p <0.05. Results: The study reported very high prevalence rate (66.5%) of male infertility, with a level of Cell-phone over usage proportion of 35.2%. It also established a significant association between cell phone over usage and prevalence of infertility. Conclusion: This study concluded that cell phone over usage has significant effect on clinical correlates of male factors. It also established a significant association between cell phone over usage and seminal fluid parameters. The study therefore recommends that males should desist from keeping cell phones in their trouser pockets especially in talk mode to reduce the amount of non-ionizing radiation released to their reproductive organs.