. 2024 Jan 18;22(1):e8488. doi: 10.2903/j.efsa.2024.8488

TABLE 22.

Key epidemiological studies on male fertility in humans in relation to iAs exposure.

Reference study population design	Outcome definition	Population size (n) case/control	Arsenic exposure	Results	Additional information/confounders
Wang et al. (2016) Nanjing Medical University, China Case–control	Unexplained male infertility	Cases: 101 infertile men with normal semen whose wives were evaluated to have normal reproductive function Controls: 61 fertile men with normal semen whose wives had successful pregnancy in last 3 months	Urinary concentration (μg/g creatinine), Medians, Cases – Controls As_i ^III 4.10–3.97 As_i ^V 71.59–0.63 AsB 12.03–7.80 MMA^V 4.20–2.93 DMA^V 28.23–18.30 u‐tiAs 74.87–5.46	Adjusted OR (95% CI) 4th versus 1st quartile As_i ^III 0.59 (0.19–1.83) As_i ^V 36.51 (8.25–161.7) AsB 2.23 (0.70–7.12) MMA^V 1.97 (0.57–6.77) DMA^V 1.27 (0.40–4.03) u‐tiAs 10.17 (2.72–38.11)	Adjusted for age, BMI, drinking and smoking

Reference study population design

Outcome definition

Population size (n) case/control

Arsenic exposure

Results

Additional information/confounders

Wang et al. (2016)

Nanjing Medical University, China

Case–control

Unexplained male infertility

Cases: 101 infertile men with normal semen whose wives were evaluated to have normal reproductive function

Controls: 61 fertile men with normal semen whose wives had successful pregnancy in last 3 months

Urinary concentration (μg/g creatinine), Medians, Cases – Controls

As_i ^III 4.10–3.97

As_i ^V 71.59–0.63

AsB 12.03–7.80

MMA^V 4.20–2.93

DMA^V 28.23–18.30

u‐tiAs 74.87–5.46

Adjusted OR (95% CI)

4th versus 1st quartile

As_i ^III 0.59 (0.19–1.83)

As_i ^V 36.51 (8.25–161.7)

AsB 2.23 (0.70–7.12)

MMA^V 1.97 (0.57–6.77)

DMA^V 1.27 (0.40–4.03)

u‐tiAs 10.17 (2.72–38.11)

Adjusted for age, BMI, drinking and smoking

Abbreviations: As(III), arsenite; As(V), arsenate; AsB, arsenobetaine; BMI, body mass index; CI, confidence interval; DMA(V), dimethylarsinic acid; iAs, inorganic arsenic; MMA(V), monomethylarsonic acid; n, number; OR, odds ratio; u‐tiAs, total urinary iAs (sum of iAs and its methylated metabolites MMA and DMA).