U.S. study suggests infertile men at higher risk of heart disease, diabetes

Men diagnosed with infertility are more likely to develop other general health ailments, including diabetes and heart disease, when compared with fertile men, a U.S. study said Monday.

The study's lead author, Michael Eisenberg, assistant professor at the Stanford University, hoped the findings would encourage more men diagnosed with infertility to seek follow-up care.

"I think it's important to know that sperm counts and fertility may tell a little more than just about reproductive potential," Eisenberg said in a statement. "There may be some other aspects that men could be alerted to about overall health."

The researchers examined records filed between 2001 and 2009 of more than 115,000 reproductive-aged men from an anonymized insurance claims database.

The men's medical visits before and after fertility testing were analyzed to determine what health complications they developed in the years after fertility evaluations. The researchers then compared general health conditions of men with infertility diagnoses to men without the diagnoses and to vasectomized men.

Of the three groups, infertile men had higher rates of most diseases the researchers were screening for in the study, including heart disease and diabetes, even when results were adjusted for obesity, smoking and health-care utilization.

In addition, men with the most severe form of male infertility had the highest risk of renal disease and alcohol abuse.

"It was surprising," Eisenberg said. "These were really young men. The average age was in the 30s."

As to why infertility is associated with higher rates of certain diseases, one possibility Eisenberg noted was that infertile men have lower levels of circulating testosterone than fertile men, a characteristic that has been linked to a higher risk of mortality and cardiovascular disease.

Another possibility was that exposure to harmful environmental influences during fetal development could lead to both reproductive and general health challenges later in life.

"Exposures that occur in utero can have lasting effects on the rest of your life," he said. "So maybe some of these same exposures that set men up later in life for things like heart disease could also set them up for things like lower sperm count."

Regardless of the reason, Eisenberg said his research suggested that whatever is causing reproductive problems is likely to be influencing physiological systems, while encouraging men -- particularly men experiencing reproductive difficulties -- to get checked out.

The findings were published online in the journal Fertility and Sterility. Endit