Efeito da natação e da corrida sobre a qualidade seminal

Abstract

Significant changes in semen quality may occur due to the practice of physical activity, which can alter its quality according to the type of physical activity, intensity and duration. This relationship is especially important because of the fact that physical activity has become widely popular worldwide. In addition, the incidence of couple´s infertility in the world is around 8 to 15%, and in up to 50% of the cases the cause of infertility is male. The goal of this study was to verify the effect of the physical activity of the swimming and of the running, on a moderate form, on seminal quality. A control group, formed by healthy individuals practicing low intensity physical activity, was used in the comparison between the groups. This is a cross-sectional study performed with healthy men practicing moderate physical activity. The seminal parameters of 39 men between the ages of 23 and 37 years were evaluated. The level of physical activity was evaluated by calculating the metabolic equivalents (METs), using the Compendium of Physical Activities (CPA) to identify the intensities. Seminal parameters of volume, concentration/ml, total concentration, progressive motility, total motility, and sperm morphology were evaluated according to the normal values recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) (2010). For the descriptive statistics of the continuous variables, the mean and the standard deviation were calculated, while for the inferential analysis the normality of the data was evaluated using the Shapiro-Wilk test for all dependent variables. When normality was confirmed, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the groups for the descriptive variables. For all the statistical tests, a p< 0.05 was considered. The results did not show statistical differences between groups regarding semen volume, concentration/ml, total concentration, progressive motility and total motility. On the other hand, there is a statistical difference between the groups for sperm morphology. In addition, sperm morphology was below the 4% threshold established by WHO for the swimming and running group. In conclusion, we note that there are no differences in seminal parameters of men who practice different sports of moderate intensity, however sperm morphology can to be impaired with the practice of moderate physical activity.