association between demographic characteristics and sperm dna fragmentation index in infertile men

Background: the dna fragmentation index (dfi) is an essential marker in evaluating male fertility. lifestyle is supposed to have a remarkable effect on enhancing this index and, subsequently, male fertility. objectives: this study investigated the relationship between lifestyle habits and sperm dfi in infertile men admitted to shahid rahimi and shohada-ye ashayer hospitals in khorramabad, iran, from 2020 to 2021. methods: this cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on 222 infertile men. the samples were divided into three groups based on their sperm dfi: < 15%, 15 - 30%, and < 30%. in each group, alcohol consumption, smoking, age, and body mass index (bmi) were compared. the analysis was performed by spss software (version 22) using the chi-square test and one-way analysis of variance (anova) test. results: the mean age of patients was 37.45 ± 5.99 years. the dfi was < 15%, 15 - 30%, and 30% < in 119 (53.6%), 69 (31.1%), and 34 (15.3%) individuals, respectively. the mean age in the dfi groups of less than 15%, 15 - 30%, and more than 30% was 35.88, 38.17, and 41.52 years, respectively. the analysis showed a significant difference in the mean age of the three groups (p < 0.05). however, there was no significant relationship between smoking, alcohol consumption, and bmi with dfi (p > 0.05). conclusions: there was no significant relationship between lifestyle factors and dfi. however, large-scale studies are required to evaluate the role of these factors, as if their role in infertility is proven, lifestyle modification might be a potential method for managing infertility.