What a man's SPERM says about his general health

A man's overall health is linked to the quality of his sperm, a new study has found. Problems with infertility in men signal other health problems like high blood pressure and hormone disorders, doctors believe.

They found 15 per cent of couples have fertility problems, half of which are down to poor sperm quality.

For the first time, a study has linked poor semen quality to a higher chance of having various health conditions, such as high blood pressure, and more generally to skin and hormonal disorders.

Men as young as 30 can be affected, and it is known infertile men die earlier and are more likely to die from heart problems, doctors warned.

Professor Michael Eisenberg, of Stanford University School of Medicine, said: 'About 15 per cent of all couples have fertility issues, and in half of those cases the male partner has semen deficiencies.

'We should be paying more attention to these millions of men. Infertility is a warning - problems with reproduction may mean problems with overall health.’

The findings suggested men with fertility problems should be given thorough physical examinations to detect early signs of health problems.

The new study examined the medical records of 9,387 men aged between 30 and 50 between 1994 and 2011 to determine the cause of their infertility.

The men had routinely provided semen samples, which the researchers assessed for characteristics including volume, concentration and motility, which is the sperm's ability to move spontaneously and actively, while consuming energy.

In about half of all the male infertility cases, the problem was abnormal semen while in the rest, the fault lay elsewhere.

Almost half (44 per cent) of all the men, whose average age was 38, had some additional health problem besides the fertility problem that brought them to the clinic. The main problems were specific diseases of the circulatory system, notably high blood pressure, vascular disease and heart disease.

The results also showed as the number of different kinds of defects in a man's semen rose, so did his likelihood of having a skin disease or hormone disorder.

It is not known why there is a connection between semen defects and seemingly unrelated disorders, such as a cardiovascular or hormonal disease, come about.

However Professor Eisenberg said: 'A man's health is strongly correlated with his semen quality. 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 study was published online in the journal Fertility and Sterility.

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