Western men’s sperm counts have plummeted by more than 50 percent over the last 40 years, according to a new study.
According to ABC news, Israeli researchers reviewed hundreds of studies into sperm quality between 1973 and 2011, involving a total of 43,000 men. The findings were published in the Human Reproduction Update Journal.
The study found sperm counts fell an average of 1.6 percent a year for an overall decline of 59.3 percent since 1973. Sperm concentration, a measure of quality, also declined dramatically over the same period, particularly among fertile men. The trend did not improve or worsen in more recent decades, USA Today reported.
“These findings strongly suggest a significant decline in male reproductive health, which has serious implications beyond fertility concerns,” the authors concluded, ABC News reported.
Researchers said an increasing proportion of men with sperm counts below the threshold for infertility was “particularly concerning,” given
