Men’s fertility starts to decline from 44 years —Study

While there may be no significant difference in sperm count in all age groups, a study has warned that men should not delay fatherhood because their fertility starts to decline from age 44.

In a new study, researchers said that semen quality may start to decline from age 44, given that men’s seminal fluid volume including sperm motility, which was in fact elevated before 44 years, starts declining from that age.

In addition, the liquefaction time for the seminal fluid rose steadily, though a transient stabilisation was observed between the ages of 40 and 49 years.

It was a retrospective and cross-sectional study carried out between 2010 and 2015 on a sample of 505 apparently healthy males aged 27 to 70 who presented for assisted conception at Nordica Fertility Centre in Nigeria for secondary infertility. Their sperm was collected by masturbation and examined within 60 minutes of collection.

Men with a condition such as sexually transmitted diseases, past or current history of undescended testis, surgical operations on the testis, chronic liver disease, HIV infection, liver failure, and Diabetes Mellitus were excluded from the study.

The 2018 study, published by Andrology and Gynaecology Report, involved Abayomi Ajayi1, Victor Ajayi; Adedamilola Atiba; Ifeoluwa Oyetunji; Oluwafunmilola Biobaku; and Bamgboye M. Afolabi.

Effect of male age on fertilisation of a viable egg is an important public health concern since an increase in the male population choosing to father a child in older ages is being observed.

The researchers also noted an increase in the percentage of abnormal sperms. At age 40 years or above, an insignificant increase in the percentage of abnormal sperm cells was observed.

The observed increase in liquefaction time, they said may be related to elevated semen viscosity noted in older men, adding that sperm cells may not be able to swim freely in semen with elevated viscosity.

Slow motility combined with increase liquefaction time and higher viscosity apparently spells doom for most viable sperm cells trying to reach the female egg that needs to be fertilised.

The researchers in this study, which did find that racial ethnicity, may not have much influence on semen volume as in white, said the reduction in seminal fluid as age increases might be related to the depreciation of the testis and other accessory organs.

Furthermore, they explained that conditions such as undescended testis, mumps and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) affecting the genitourinary tract, cardiovascular diseases or environmental toxins may account for the reduction in seminal fluid volume as age advances.

They concluded that “in general, advanced paternal age strongly influences the quantity of seminal fluid volume, liquefaction time, and sperm motility and this may impact on male fertility and management of male infertility considering rising paternal age.”

Numerous studies have been carried out to establish the relationship between the age of the woman and her fertility potential; on the other hand, the effect of advancing age on male fertility is still unclear.

Socioeconomic pressures, high rate of divorce and subsequent remarriage, the advent of women in managerial or executive positions and the new role of females in the society have led to deferred fathering of a child in many parts of the world.

Moreover, male remarriage, for any reason, as well as the prevalence of polygamy, has contributed to interests generated in advanced paternal age. Late child wish, in some cases, is due to the desire for a male child, especially where all the children are females.

There are opinions that advanced age of the human male implicitly impacts on overall semen parameters including the morphology of the sperm cells leading to alterations in its fertility potential and eventually impacting the health of the offspring.