Men's Health: Infertility as a Warning Sign

Luise Heine has been an editor at since 2012. The qualified biologist studied in Regensburg and Brisbane (Australia) and gained experience as a journalist in television, in the Ratgeber-Verlag and in a print magazine. In addition to her work at , she also writes for children, for example for the Stuttgarter Kinderzeitung, and has her own breakfast blog, “Kuchen zum Frühstück”.

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MunichThe quality of sperm has been deteriorating in men for years. Anyone who is affected should also have their general health checked. Because some diseases are associated with defective sperm, warn American researchers.

"About 15 percent of all couples have reproductive problems, and in about half of those cases the man has sperm quality deficits," explains Michael Eisenberg of Stanford University. Why are so many men sterile? In search of an answer to this question, the researcher and his colleagues evaluated the data of 9,387 men who received treatment for infertility between 1994 and 2011. On this occasion, the men had also given a semen sample.

Weak sperm, sick body?

The examination of the sperm cells showed that in about half of the cases of male infertility, the sperm became limp. Either there was too little of them or they weren't moving properly.

When the scientists compared how the health of the sperm donors was otherwise, they found that 44 percent of them had an additional health problem in addition to infertility. In particular, diseases of the circulatory system were common among them. For example, they increasingly suffered from high blood pressure or had heart problems. And that although the average age of the test subjects was only 38 years. In addition, the more different defects the sperm had, the higher the risk of the test subjects for skin or glandular diseases.

Cause and effect still unclear

"Infertility is a warning signal - problems with reproduction can mean problems with health," says Eisenberg, summarizing the results of the study. The researchers are not yet entirely sure where the connection comes from. On the one hand, the answer could be found in the genes: It is known that around 15 percent of the genes that are necessary for reproduction also fulfill a wide variety of other functions in the body. However, the poor quality of the semen may also be a side effect of the treatment of the diseases. The scientists want to shed light on this in further studies.

Until then, however, the researchers advise using the visit to the fertility clinic to take a closer look at your own health. This offers the opportunity to discover and treat other diseases and thus perhaps also to get rid of fertility problems.

Source: Michael L. Eisenberg et al. Relationship between semen production and medical comorbidity. Fertility and Sterility, 2014; DOI: 10.1016 / j.fertnstert.2014.10.017

Tags:  diet Diseases prevention