WASHINGTON, March 18 (Xinhua) -- A new study evaluating semen quality in men has shown that a man's semen count is a marker of his general health and a low semen count is potentially be linked to other disease.
The study results, represented on Sunday at ENDO 2018, the Endocrine Society's 100th annual meeting in Chicago, are based on 5,177 male partners of infertile couples from Italy.
"Our study clearly shows that low sperm count by itself is associated with metabolic alterations, cardiovascular risk and low bone mass," said the study's lead investigator, Alberto Ferlin from Italy's University of Brescia.
Low sperm count was defined as less than 39 million per ejaculate.
Ferlin said that infertile men are likely to have important co-existing health problems or risk factors that can impair quality of life and shorten their lives, so the fertility evaluation gives men the unique opportunity for health assessment and disease prevention.
Ferlin and his colleagues found that about half the men had low sperm counts and were 1.2 times more likely than those with normal sperm counts to have greater body fat, higher blood pressure, "bad" cholesterol and triglycerides, and lower "good" cholesterol.
They also had a higher chance of developing diabetes, heart disease and stroke, the investigators reported.
A measure of insulin resistance, another problem that can lead to diabetes, also was higher in men with low sperm counts.
The researchers found a 12-fold increased risk of low testosterone levels, in men with low sperm counts. Half the men with low testosterone had osteoporosis or low bone mass, a possible precursor to osteoporosis, as found on a bone density scan.
Ferlin cautioned that their study does not prove that low sperm counts cause metabolic derangements, but rather that sperm quality is a mirror of the general male health.
"Men of couples having difficulties achieving pregnancy should be correctly diagnosed and followed up by their fertility specialists and primary care doctor because they could have an increased chance of morbidity and mortality," he said.
