Sperm abnormalities and cigarette smoking.

Sperm samples from a carefully matched group of 43 cigarette smokers and 43 non-smokers attending an infertility clinic were examined for morphological abnormality. The smokers were found to have a significantly greater percentage of abnormal forms. In the light of other work showing increased chromosome damage in blood lymphocytes of cigarette smokers and the known propensity for mutagens to induce sperm abnormalities in animals, it is suggested that the sperm abnormalities in cigarette smokers may reflect genetic damage to these cells as a consequence of exposure to smoke products.