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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Oct 1.
Published in final edited form as: Environ Res. 2019 Aug 6;177:108633. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2019.108633

Table 2.

Associations between the SG-adjusted triclosan urinary concentrations and semen quality among 262 men (581 semen samples) participating in the EARTH Study.

Men (N) / semen samples (n) 63/151 58/143 62/144 79/143
Median SG-adjusted urinary triclosan concentration (IQR), [range] Q1: Non-detectable Q2: 3.25 (2.32,4.57), [0.73, 6.63] Q3: 13.8 (9.62,23.1), [6.80, 41.2] Q4: 191 (79.7,388), [41.3, 2516]

Unadjusted Associations P, trend

Semen volume (mL) Ref −0.45 (−9.52, 9.53) 5.28 (−4.36, 15.9) −4.51 (−14.2, 6.28) 0.11
Sperm concentration (million/mL) Ref −4.89 (−18.6, 11.1) −4.14 (−18.0, 12.1) −1.98 (−17.7, 16.8) 0.87
Total sperm count (million) Ref −7.03 (−22.6, 11.7) 0.42 (−16.4, 20.6) −6.34 (−23.4, 14.5) 0.55
Percent Motile Sperm (%) Ref −2.58 (−6.79,1.62) −0.59 (−4.80,3.62) 0.04 (−4.62,4.71) 0.63
Percent Progressive Motile Sperm (%) Ref −1.04 (−3.77,1.70) −0.21 (−2.96,2.53) 0.10 (−2.93,3.14) 0.72
Percent Morphologically Normal Sperm (%) Ref −1.30 (−2.01,−0.59)** −0.88 (−1.59,−0.17)* −0.46 (−1.23,0.31) 0.44

Adjusted Associations P, trend

Semen volume (mL) Ref 0.28 (−8.58, 9.99) 4.58 (−4.73, 14.8) −5.50 (−14.9, 4.93) 0.06
Sperm concentration (million/mL) Ref −4.40 (−18.2, 11.7) −5.24 (−19.0, 10.9) −2.40 (−18.3, 16.6) 0.86
Total sperm count (million) Ref −5.84 (−21.3, 12.7) −1.78 (−18.0, 17.7) −8.13 (−24.8, 12.3) 0.45
Percent Motile Sperm (%) Ref −2.29 (0.00,1.94) −0.26 (0.00,4.02) 0.89 (0.00,5.65) 0.42
Percent Progressive Motile Sperm (%) Ref −0.85 (−3.62,1.91) 0.23 (−2.56,3.03) 0.92 (−2.18,4.02) 0.42
Percent Morphologically Normal Sperm (%) Ref −1.32 (−2.04,−0.59)** −0.91 (−1.63,−0.18)* −0.46 (−1.25,0.33) 0.41

Abbreviations: 95% CI; 95% confidence interval, N; number of men, n; number of samples, EARTH; the Environment and Reproductive Health study, Q; quartile, SG; specific gravity, IQR; interquartile range, Ref; reference.

Adjusted associations were estimated using linear mixed models and a random intercept for each man for the semen quality parameters. The adjusted associations in each exposure category were adjusted for the covariates at their average levels for continuous variables and weighted average level of categorical variables.

The model adjusted for age (years, continuous), sexual abstinence time (days, categorical), body mass index (Kg/m2, continuous), tobacco smoking (yes/no), season (binary), moderate and vigorous physical activity (continuous), and calendar year (continuous). Motility models were further adjusted for time elapsed between semen collection and analysis.

Semen volume, sperm concentration and total sperm count are presented as % changes compared to the lowest quartile and the other parameters are presented as mean differences compared to the lowest quartile.

*

p<0.05,

**

p< 0.01 compared to lowest quartile.