Turns Out Infertility In (Some) Men Could Be Fixable, If You Just Clean Up Your Act.
why is this important?
Because the key to solving infertility issues in men could be as simple as treating their other health issues.
long story short
A recent study found that burgeoning infertility in men has links to other health issues originally thought unrelated.
long story
A recent study of over 9,000 infertile men by the Stanford University School of Medicine to evaluate the cause of their fertility problems started routinely enough, but surprisingly — even shockingly — the study concluded with the findings that poor semen quality can also be related to a whole host of other health issues that, at least superficially, don’t make a lot of sense.
“About 15% of all couples have fertility issues, and in half of those cases the male partner has semen deficiencies,” stated the study’s lead author, Michael Eisenberg, MD, assistant professor of urology and director of male reproductive medicine and surgery at Stanford. “We should be paying more attention to these millions of men. Infertility is a warning: Problems with reproduction may mean problems with overall health.”
Those “problems with overall health” include more generalised conditions such as skin and endocrine disorders, as well as the really nasty stuff like hypertension, which is already an unwelcome affliction where your pecker’s concerned (it can impact erectile fortitude). This, combined with the fact Eisenberg previously co-authored a similar study that found infertile men had higher rates of mortality (and specifically mortality linked to heart problems), might have you thinking: I don’t have to worry about this. I’m young, dumb, and full of co-
Not so, Top Gun.
“Here, we’re already spotting signs of trouble in young men in their 30s,” Eisenberg clarified.
Eisenberg and his crew at Stanmore went on to analyse the medical records of their 9,387 respondents, who were mostly between the ages of 30 and 50 with a median age of 38. Their routinely provided semen was assessed with little score cards* (*that’s a lie) for volume, concentration, and motility, which means “the ability of sperm to move properly through the female reproductive tract”. In roughly half of male infertility cases, the problem was just that: The semen wasn’t quite right for whatever reason. In the other half, however, there were consistent problems elsewhere. Using their extensive database, the research team drew the links pretty quickly – most notably that in 44% of cases, poor semen quality went hand-in-hand with hypertension, vascular disease, and heart disease.
“A man’s health is strongly correlated with his semen quality,” Eisenberg asserted. “Given the high incidence of infertility, we need to take a broader view. As we treat men’s infertility, we should also assess their overall health. That visit to a fertility clinic represents a big opportunity to improve their treatment for other conditions, which we now suspect could actually help resolve the infertility they came in for in the first place.”
own the conversation
Ask The Big Question: So, in some cases, infertility could be fixed by treating other health issues? That’s great news.
Disrupt Your Feed: What the hell else in my stupid body is related to other things going wrong elsewhere? Does dandruff mean toe cancer?
Drop This Fact: About 15% of all genes in the human genome are connected directly to reproduction, which should tell you everything you need to know about why you exist.
Source: Ask Men