The World Health Organization defines male infertility as “a failure to conceive despite a 12-month history of sexual intercourse without contraception”. Male infertility is defined as infertility of the female partner due to male infertility without the use of contraception. The latest epidemiological survey results show that male infertility accounts for about 40% of infertile couples. According to the U.S. authorities, in recent years, due to the impact of environmental factors and the role of chemicals, has reduced the sperm of adult men by 50% to 70%. According to the World Health Organization prediction: male infertility will be the third biggest threat to human health in the 21st century, following cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Many factors of infertility
Many men believe that the responsibility for infertility often lies with women. In fact, there are many factors that cause male infertility. Therefore, if infertility occurs, it is best for the couple to go to the hospital at the same time for a checkup. According to Daining, the main factors of male infertility are the following.
1, the age factor: as age increases, the quality of male sperm tends to decline, including sperm DNA strand breakage, mutation and aneuploidy, and its mobility and conception rate also decreases; after the age of 40, the rate of miscarriage, birth defects, autosomal disorders in the offspring and fetal mortality of his wife’s pregnancy are increased.
2, reproductive system factors: (1) varicocele: is a common cause of low fertility in men, the incidence of the left side is higher than the right side. Due to local blood flow obstruction, temperature increase and toxic substance accumulation, it affects sperm production and maturation, causing spermatogenic disorders, low sperm motility and oligospermia, etc. (2) Cryptorchidism: Patients with bilateral cryptorchidism may develop azoospermia, and the chance of malignant change of cryptorchidism is higher, so early surgery is necessary. (3) Infertility caused by vas deferens obstruction, testicular tumor, surgical injury and other factors.
Genetic factors: Chromosomal abnormalities can account for 15% to 20% of azoospermia in men. More than half of them are abnormalities of sex chromosomes are common. As a result of genetic inheritance, an extra X chromosome, resulting in the loss of spermatogenic cells in the offspring and varicose spermatozoa hyaline change, damage to interstitial cells and supporting cell function, affecting sperm formation.
4, endocrine factors: normal human reproductive activity depends on the natural regulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (testicular) function, once a variety of reasons (such as endocrine diseases in the adrenal gland disease, thyroid disease and diabetes), can lead to endocrine dysfunction, causing this axis of glandular dysfunction, can cause spermatogenic disorders and semen abnormalities, which can lead to infertility.
5, immune factors: research has shown that in couples with unexplained infertility, about 5% to 10% may be caused by sperm antibodies. The sperm antibodies in the serum are especially sperm braking antibodies. Anti-sperm antibodies can inhibit sperm acquisition and acrosome reaction, interfere with sperm upward movement, block sperm from passing through the zona pellucida, affect sperm-egg fusion, and have an effect on fertilized eggs, pre-embryos and implantation, causing immune infertility.
However, Daining warned that although many causes of male infertility can be identified, nearly half of the patients still cannot find a clear clinical cause. In terms of individual patients, there are often multiple factors that affect fertility, so it is important to examine each specific patient carefully.
Stay away from bad habits Avoid high-risk environments
In addition to some common factors of infertility, male infertility is also associated with many bad habits. Nowadays, many young people like to smoke, drink alcohol, go after fashion to sauna, wear tight pants, these bad habits can lead to scrotal temperature regulation dysfunction, not only damage to the function of the testicles, affecting the production of sperm, but also affect sexual function.
In addition, Daining reminded that some drugs can also lead to male infertility. Therefore, people should pay attention when taking drugs in general. The common ones are cimetidine, salazosulfapyridine, raglan, spironolactone, furantoin, nilidazole, colchicine, various hormonal drugs and cancer chemotherapy drugs such as certain alkyl compounds, which can often lead to temporary or permanent damage to sperm production. There are also toxic and harmful substances to which you may be exposed for long periods of time. Such as DDT, paints, pine oil hydrocarbons, pesticides, etc., in addition to some metal elements such as copper, cadmium, lead, etc.
There are occupational environments that can also predispose men to infertility. For example, long-term exposure to low-frequency electromagnetic fields can damage sperm quality. Another study found that men who put their cell phones in their pants pockets and around their waists had lower sperm vitality than men who did not carry their cell phones or put them elsewhere. For example, semen quality and sperm subclinical damage in radar operators are related to radar, dominated by increased sperm malformation. Germ cells are among the most sensitive cells to ionizing radiation. The germinal epithelium divides frequently and ionizing radiation can cause damage to the cell membrane, which has a long-term damaging effect on the germinal process.
Daining suggests that in daily life, men of childbearing age should try to avoid adverse factors that could potentially cause infertility. Stay away from radiation or electromagnetic fields, toxic chemicals (indoor decoration pollution, etc.), quit smoking and drinking, avoid high-temperature work (welders, chefs, etc.), and avoid long-term sedentary, tight underwear, sauna baths and other bad habits.
To adjust the mentality Active treatment
Couples should not blame each other once they find out the infertility situation. Because emotional instability may cause sexual dysfunction leading to infertility. The most important thing to do at this time is to adjust the mindset, eliminate tension and anxiety. And promptly go to the regular hospital for examination and treatment. The actual fact is that you should relax and improve the quality of your sex life, not to indulge in sex, and not to intentionally restrain your sex life, and not to depend too much on the day of the woman’s ovulation for your sex life.
The time of work and rest and diet should be regular. The actual fact is that you should not stay up late, combine work and rest, and strengthen physical exercise. You should not overeat or diet, pay attention to nutritional balance, and enhance the intake of protein, trace elements of zinc and vitamins. Because the lack of vitamins may also lead to infertility. For example, vitamin A deficiency can lead to spermatogenic epithelium does not grow; vitamin B deficiency can affect pituitary function and reduce semen quality; vitamin C plays an important role in preventing semen coagulation and maintaining sperm vitality; vitamin E deficiency can cause testicular damage; calcium and phosphorus deficiency can reduce fertility; trace elements zinc and magnesium deficiency will also have a greater impact on sperm production and vitality.
Men should insist on regular medical checkups. The actual fact is that you can find out in time the inflammatory diseases of the reproductive tract such as prostatitis, and timely treatment can be a good prevention.
The actual fact is that you can find a lot of people who are not able to get a good deal on a lot of things. In the case of infertility, the treatment should be reasonable under the guidance of a specialist. In the case of clear causes, remove the causative factors first. For example, to improve varicocele, genital malformation, etc. Secondly, it is very important for couples to be treated together in the treatment of infertility. In male and female infertility, the causes of each sex account for 50%, so it is important for the treatment of male infertility to consider the physical condition, age, and history of fertility of the female partner at the initial diagnosis. In addition, treating couples together can reduce the conflicts between couples due to treatment of infertility and infertility and help to improve the effectiveness of treatment. The general treatment of male infertility now has a lot of treatment measures, including both causative and symptomatic treatment. Different Chinese and Western medical treatments need to be chosen in conjunction with the patient’s specific situation.
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