ABSTRACT
The establishment of a male reproductive profile for assessing reproductive potential for both individual and population investigations is necessary. The same profile can be used for both types of studies, but there are some basic differences in methodology. The assessment profile illustrated here is that being used by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to assess populations exposed to potential reproductive toxicants. Differences between assessing the individual vs. the population will be noted. A summary of assessments and specific methodologies follow. If individual data (vs. population comparisons) are to be used, care should be taken to compare the results with the normal range of results of the laboratory conducting the analysis and not published values. If a population-based study is being conducted, a concurrent comparison cohort must be used and the analyses should be blind to exposure status.
