Men’s Health Linked to Semen Quality: Bad Semen Means Poor Health

Men with poor semen quality are more likely to have hypertension, heart disease, skin disease and endocrine disorders, a new study suggests.

According to Dr. Michael Eisenberg, an assistant professor of urology and director of male reproductive medicine and surgery at Stanford University, who led the study, the problem is very likely genetic.

"About 15 percent of all couples have fertility issues, and in half of those cases the male partner has semen deficiencies," Eisenberg said according to Today.

"We should be paying more attention to these millions of men. Infertility is a warning: Problems with reproduction may mean problems with overall health."

Men's health worsens with age. "But here, we're already spotting signs of trouble in young men in their 30s," Eisenberg said.

Published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, the study evaluated data from more than 9,000 men with fertility problems between 1994 and 2011 to determine the cause of their infertility. With an average age of 38, most men were fairly young as they were starting families.

Researchers assessed for characteristics including volume, concentration and motility in the sample semen routinely provided by the men, reported The Financial Express.

The findings show that about half of the men had abnormal semen or sperm, and most had no obvious health problem.

However, 44 per cent of the men had other health problems besides the fertility problem that brought them to the clinic. Men who had specific diseases of the circulatory system, notably high blood pressure, vascular disease and heart disease, had abnormal rates of semen defects, reported The Daily Mail. 

"For example, 56 percent of men without hypertensive disease had normal semen quality, but only 45 percent of men with hypertension had normal semen quality," Professor Eisenberg explained.  

"A man's health is strongly correlated with his semen quality," he said. "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."

The research suggests that genes may be involved, but that does not necessarily make it an inherited problem.

 "As approximately 15 percent of the male human genome is involved in reproduction, it is conceivable that other health ailments may also be linked to defects in fertility," said Eisenberg.