Male Fertility Before and After Androgen Abuse

Abstract

Purpose Previous research has found that male users of androgens are diagnosed, approximately, twice as often with infertility. We therefore set out to investigate the fertility in men using androgens. Methods The study includes the 545 males who were tested positive for androgens in an anti-doping test program in Danish fitness centers during the period January 3 rd, 2006 to March 1 st, 2018. The confirmed users were matched by birth year with 5,450 male controls. We followed this cohort from ten years prior to testing positive and until the end of follow-up in May 2018. Results During the ten-year period prior to testing positive the group of androgen users experienced a 26% lower fertility rate than the controls (rate ratio: 0.74, 95% CI: (0.60-0.90), p=0.0028). However, in the years following the doping sanction, they made a significant catch-up, and at completed follow-up the total fertility rate was only 7% lower than expected (RR 0.93, 95% CI (0.84-1.03). The prevalence of assisted reproduction was 5.69% in the group of androgen users and 5.28% in the control group (p =0.69). Conclusion Androgen use was associated with a temporary decline in fertility and most androgen users obtained parenthood without any help from the healthcare system. Overall, the fertility rate and the prevalence of assisted reproduction among androgen users were close to that in the background population.

Addiction and human male fertility: A systematic review and a critical appraisal

“…Moreover, confound variables effect were adjusted statistically by logistic regression analysis in only six of the reviewed articles. 73,92,118,127,130,134 This may lead to a sort of bias in the obtained results in remaining studies that did not take these points into consideration.…”

“…The effect of AAS on male fertility has attracted reasonable attention as many studies tried to address this point many decades before. Overall, 15 articles were recruited that had reported impaired semen parameters &/or hormonal changes in response to AAS 79–93 . This is presented in Table 1.…”

“…Overall, 15 articles were recruited that had reported impaired semen parameters &/or hormonal changes in response to AAS. [79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93] This is presented in Table 1.…”

Drug-induced optic neuropathy

“…For all analyses, a two-sided value of P less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant, and all risk ratios are presented with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). 13 In our hypothesis-free approach, we employed the same design across multiple drugs, while all P values were, conservatively, Bonferroni corrected, meaning that all P value were multiplied with 1347.…”

Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Misuse: Mechanisms, Patterns of Misuse, User Typology, and Adverse Effects

“…A 2021 Danish study of 545 males who returned an AAS positive result on a blood test discovered that, in the decade prior to the positive result, the AAS group had a significant lower fertility rate compared to the healthy control group, with a rate ratio of 0.74 (95% CI: 0.60–0.90, p =0.0028). In the years after AAS cessation, the AAS group still exhibited a 7% lower total fertility rate compared to control, though there was no significant group difference for rates of assisted reproduction [ 76 ]. Therefore, the current literature tentatively suggests that reproductive recovery may be possible for most former AAS users.…”