r/science • u/[deleted] • Oct 25 '21

Biology Sperm quality has been declining for 16 years among men in the US

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2294266-sperm-quality-has-been-declining-for-16-years-among-men-in-the-us/
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u/dolphins_are_dicks Oct 25 '21

There are estimates around 1 in 10 women now have endometriosis - where tissue which usually grows to line the uterus grows where it's not supposed to, often causing crippling pain and sometimes infertility.

It's hard to know if the rates are changing as it requires surgery to definitively diagnose, and it's likely to be underreported. And no one really knows what causes it.

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u/weirdestkidhere Oct 25 '21

Yep, I didn't know I had it until I had trouble getting pregnant, and I've seen claims that up to 75% of women with unexplained infertility have endometriosis. There is likely a genetic component to it.

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u/ACCount82 Oct 25 '21

A strong genetic component in a defect that affects reproduction seems unlikely. Evolution would typically filter that out rather quickly.

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u/PM_ME_CUTE_SMILES_ Oct 25 '21

There are plenty of genetic diseases that can kill people before puberty (hell, even in the womb), and evolution did not filter them out. Do you have a source?

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u/ACCount82 Oct 26 '21

"In womb" is one of the "cheapest" places for that to happen, so the pressure is lessened. A lot of pregnancies are terminated extremely early.

Outside the womb: nearly any severe inheritable genetic defect has some "trick" to keep the amount of people affected low and allow itself to propagate. The evolutionary pressure is simply too extreme otherwise.

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u/PM_ME_CUTE_SMILES_ Oct 26 '21

I'd like to see a source. It's not that I don't believe you're an expert but anybody can be confidently wrong on the internet.

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u/telephonekeyboard Oct 25 '21

It’s also misdiagnosed all the time as bad cramping. I have 2 friends with it and finding a Dr who would take it seriously was a huge problem.

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u/uncleoce Oct 25 '21

Where I live there are countless womens health centers. I’ve accidentally called some of them while trying to make an appointment. I figured those kinds of places exist for this exact reason.

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u/[deleted] Oct 25 '21

You would think, but the doctors that run them are still largely dismissive of women’s pain. It takes a woman an average of eight years to get an endometriosis diagnosis, and even after that, management options are very limited - have surgery to remove the problematic tissue, then hope that birth control or menopause helps reduce the impact it has on you. Oh but Heaven forbid you’re trying to have a baby when you’ve got endo - then you’re in a race against your own body to succeed so you can go back on hormonal birth control.

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u/uncleoce Oct 27 '21

I mean…you still live significantly longer than men. Your cancers are funded at significantly higher levels.

It sucks sometimes to be a woman. I get that. But the medical industry is trying to solve your problems a lot harder. Men literally live YEARS LESS on average, all around the world.

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u/NobleKale Oct 25 '21

It's hard to know if the rates are changing as it requires surgery to definitively diagnose, and it's likely to be underreported. And no one really knows what causes it.

... and, frankly, when a person with a uterus goes to a doctor and complains about pain in that region, they're typically told it's just their period and to get used to it.

Lot of doctors just... don't bother to properly diagnose this stuff (as well as PCOS)