ntidepressants may damage male fertility
Last Updated: 2008-09-24 15:19:18 -0400 (Reuters Health)
LONDON (Reuters) - Common antidepressant drugs may reduce some men's fertility by damaging the DNA in their sperm, according to scientists.
A study of 35 healthy men given paroxetine - sold as Paxil or Seroxat by GlaxoSmithKline - found that, on average, the proportion of sperm cells with fragmented DNA rose from 13.8 percent before treatment to 30.3 percent after just four weeks.
Similar levels of sperm DNA damage have been linked to problems with embryo viability in couples trying to have children. The research by Peter Schlegel and Cigdem Tanrikut of the Cornell Medical Center in New York was reported in New Scientist magazine and is due to be presented in November at a meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
A copy of the study abstract was made available to Reuters.
"The fertility potential of a substantial proportion of men on paroxetine may be adversely affected by these changes in sperm DNA integrity," the experts concluded.
There are three words you never thought you would see strung together....
The study adds to concerns voiced by the same doctors in 2006, after finding that two men had developed low counts of healthy sperm following treatment with two different selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
The article goes on...
Allan Pacey, Senior Lecturer in Andrology at the University of Sheffield, said the apparent increase in sperm DNA damage was "alarming", although he noted the level at which damage becomes clinically significant was open to debate.
"It is a shame that the authors appear not to have conducted a randomised controlled trial which would be the most scientific way to investigate the drugs effects, but I agree that the results are of concern and need to be investigated further," he said.
Drugwonks is open to suggestions for an appropriate study design.
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2008/09/24/eline/links/20080924elin019.html
