Using androgens causes temporary decline in fertility, according to a study. Most androgen users, however, achieve parenthood without any help from the healthcare system.
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| Photo: Fertilization of an Egg Cell | InStyleHealth |
According to experts, “previous research has found
that male users of androgens are diagnosed approximately twice as often with infertility.”
In order to examine fertility in men using androgens,
the study included 545 males who tested positive for androgens in an antidoping
test program in Danish fitness centers during the period from 3rd
January 2006 to 1st March 2018.
Confirmed androgens users were then matched by birth
year with 5,450 male controls. The experts followed this group from 10 years
prior to testing positive until the end of follow up in May 2018.
The fertility rate was lower by 26 percent in the
group of androgen users compared with those in the control group during the
10-year period prior to testing positive. However, androgen users caught up in
the years following the doping sanction, at a completed follow up, the fertility
rate was only lower by 7 percent than expected.
The authors of the study said, “overall, the fertility
rate and the prevalence of assisted reproduction among androgen users were
close to those in the background population.”
Moreover, the prevalence of assisted reproduction was
5.69 percent and 5.28 percent in the androgen user and the control groups,
respectively.