# REV-017 — What sperm-quality studies report across humans and animals

Collection: Reviews & proposed mechanisms (not an original experiment)

Doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116952

Title: Current progress on the effect of mobile phone radiation on sperm quality: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis of human and animal studies

Authors: Gang Yu; Zhiming Bai; Chao Song; Qing Cheng; Gang Wang; Zeping Tang; Sixing Yang

Date: 2021-03-30

Issueyear: 2021

Why: Separating human observational evidence from directly exposed sperm and animal experiments makes reproductive findings easier to interpret.

Summary: Synthesizes 39 studies: pooled human cross-sectional evidence did not show overall sperm-quality decline, while in-vitro human sperm and animal experiments reported reduced motility or viability.

Limitations: Study region, age, restraint, exposure system and duration contributed to heterogeneity. Laboratory sperm endpoints do not directly quantify infertility risk from routine human phone use.

Scope: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis combining human and animal mobile-phone/sperm-quality studies.

Exposures: Mobile telephony; Radiofrequency

Journal: Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987)

Heading: What sperm-quality studies report across humans and animals

Id: REV-017

Kind: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Topics: Reproduction; Sperm quality

Links: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116952; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33862271/

Author: Yu et al.

Access Label: Abstract checked

Source Check: Original PubMed/EPMC metadata and abstract checked; full article not assessed. Linked PubMed/Europe PMC notice records checked on 21 October 2026; this is not a guarantee that every editorial update is indexed.

Citation: Gang Yu; Zhiming Bai; Chao Song; Qing Cheng; Gang Wang; Zeping Tang; Sixing Yang. Current progress on the effect of mobile phone radiation on sperm quality: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis of human and animal studies. Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987). 2021. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116952.

Related Studies: RF-006; RF-022; RF-044

Url: /reviews/rev-017/

Year: 2021

Record Type: review_or_mechanism

Source Url: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116952