The outcome of the quality of life with the use of modern technology depends on the environmental and biological exposure.  Hence, the use of laptop, and convenience to access the internet via Wi-Fi (wireless) connection, could have enormous health consequences, which may lead to the high prevalence or incidence of infertility outcome, in men.  Avendano et.al conducted a prospective ex-vivo interventional study to evaluate the effect of laptop-Wi-Fi exposure on spermatozoa donated by 29 healthy men. Each sperm donor was divided into two aliquots, one for the experimental group (laptop Wi-Fi exposure), and the other the control group (non-exposure to Wi-Fi), but incubated in identical condition without exposure to the laptop. The main outcome observed were sperm motility, viability and DNA fragmentation. After 4 hours of exposure, the study shows that 25% of sperm in the exposed groups (Wi-Fi connected laptop) stopped moving while 14 % of sperm in the control group (Non-Wi-Fi exposed/ non laptop incubation) stopped moving. In addition, 9% of the sperm exposed to radiation had DNA fragmentation. Hence, in the exposed group, there were three times more DNA fragmentation in the experimental group than in the non-radiation group (Avendano, Mata, Sanchez-Sarmiento, & Doncel, 2011).

One concern regarding the study design deals with the fact that an ex-vivo experiment may not represent a real life situation or capture the actual effect of Wi-Fi exposure, if any, in men. Thus, this may introduce an exposure bias or dosage bias. The experimental design and the asserted conclusion may create a differential misclassification when using the derived result from an ex-vivo experiment to suggest the effect of an electromagnetic exposure to men sperm fertility within the general population (Chan, 2011). However, it is obvious that direct exposure of sperm to electromagnetic radiation has a biological effect, but an ex-vivo data may increase the relative risk or odd ratio value dramatically than it actually is. A more convincing study will involve a prospective cohort study instead of a prospective ex-vivo study to ascertain and validate such claim. Nevertheless, the study is very informative because, it opens the door for more epidemiological study on this issue.

Another concern with the study is the reliability of the attributable risk due to the Wi-Fi. The fact that increased heat created by a laptop, up to 35 degree higher than normal body temperature can actually cause sperm damage, raises the issue about the accuracy of the effects immobility, viability and DNA damage attributable to Wi-Fi exposure (confounding effect), (Chan, 2011). Although a control setup was used to minimize selected variable errors, it did not address possible confounding exposure (unknown) because the experiment was not a randomized trial in the male population (Pharmnest.com). Thus, to validate external validity of the trial, a cohort study in larger male population and a randomized intervention study design may be necessary in understanding the effects of Wi-Fi exposure to male fertility.

References

Avendano, C., Mata, A., Sanchez-Sarmiento, C., & Doncel, G. (2011). Use of laptop computers connected to internet through Wi-Fi decreases human sperm motility and increases sperm DNA fragmentation. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/pubmed/22112647.

Chan, A. (2011). Laptop WiFi May Damage Sperm, Study Suggests. Retrieved from http://www. huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/29/laptop-wifi-sperm-damage-electromagnetic- radiation_n_1118726.html.

PharmNest. (2013). Four dangers destroying men. Retrieved from https://pharmnest.com / 2013/03/06/four-dangers-destroying-men/.