Semen Abnormalities Can Double Risk of Death

Men who have 2 or more abnormalities in their semen have a 2.3-fold higher risk of death as compared to men with normal semen.

“As couples delay starting families, the rates of difficulty conceiving may increase. However, infertility is also quite prevalent in all countries,” said lead author, Michael Eisenberg, MD, PhD, assistant professor of urology at Stanford University School of Medicine.

To study how infertility correlates with mortality, researchers analyzed data from 11,935 men (age 20-50, mean age of 36.6) from 1989 to 2011 who visited either the Stanford Hospital & Clinics or the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas for potential infertility.
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During the 7.7-year follow-up, 69 participants died.

Researchers noted that while the number was small in retrospect, it provides evidence of a shorter lifespan for those with multiple sperm abnormalities.

Compared to the general population, men with infertility reported a lower risk of death (69 versus 176.6 expected using the standard mortality rate of 0.39). However, when further analyzed within the semen parameters, men with impaired semen had a significantly higher mortality rate than those with normal semen.

Low semen volume, sperm concentration, sperm motility, total sperm count, and total motile sperm count were all associated with higher risk of death.

However, infertility may in fact be caused by pre-existing health problems and may not be the direct cause of death, said Eisenberg.

That said, researchers could not directly link diabetes or other illness to fecundity. Eisenberg maintains that that obesity likely does play a role in male infertility.

“Anything that's good for the heart should be good for fertility and life. I usually recommend good diet, exercise, and maintaining a good body weight,” he said.

- Michelle Canales

References:

Eisenberg ML, Li S, Behr B, et al. Semen quality, infertility and mortality in the USA. Human Reproduction. 2014;29(6). http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/05/13/humrep.deu106.abstract. May 15, 2014.