An article crossed the Google News headlines in late June that I found interesting, stating that an Indian study has added more credibility to the idea that the cause of recurrent miscarriages may often lie in the male half of the couple.
News Post India offers some more information on the study. The researchers tested 35 women who were suffering recurrent miscarriages and who had not been diagnosed with any health issues. In the women's male partners, significant defects in the sperm were found 80% of the time -- a statistic that the researchers found to be startling. An enzyme at the top of the sperm was defective.
The researchers blamed environmental pollution as being one of the major causes.
The above article is not one of the best resources on this subject, but I hope to see more research addressing this aspect of potential unseen side effects of environmental pollution. These researchers specifically mentioned a compound called xenoestrogen, which enters humans' bodies through air and water pollution. There are increasing suspicions among environmentalists that hormone disruptors in the environment may be silently wreaking havoc on our bodies, and sometimes regulatory bodies are slow to act on information given the costs associated with banning specific chemical compounds. But the idea that hormone disruptors may affect reproduction is not new; a book called Our Stolen Future details the science behind this idea fairly well for those that are interested.
And for what it's worth, the idea that sperm issues could cause miscarriages is not new. The following are some study abstracts that discuss the issue:
- Implications of Sperm Chromosome Abnormalities in Recurrent Miscarriage
- Elevated Sperm Chromosome Aneuploidy and Apoptosis in Patients With Unexplained Recurrent Pregnancy Loss
- Sperm DNA fragmentation is increased in couples with unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss
At the very least, sperm DNA issues might be something to look into if you're having recurrent losses and nothing is found to explain the issue. It's something to keep in mind when consulting with your doctor.
