Poor semen production can interfere with a couple's ability to conceive, but new research from Stanford suggests it also may be connected to a variety of health problems unrelated to fertility, including high blood pressure and other harbingers of heart disease.

A study of more than 9,000 men who sought help for infertility found that those with low sperm counts, poor sperm motility and other impaired semen production were at greater risk of having certain heart and vascular problems, plus skin diseases and disorders relating to the endocrine system. In fact, the more defects in the men's semen, the more likely they were to have other health problems.

The research, which was published online in the journal Fertility and Sterility, supports and refines earlier studies that found an increased risk of cancer and of early death in men with poor semen production.

Taken together, the studies suggest that fertility is closely tied to overall health in men.

Benefit vs. risk of daily aspirin use

For many women the risk of taking a small dose of aspirin a day may outweigh the benefits.

In a 15-year study, Dutch researchers randomized 27,939 healthy women, average age 54, to take either 100 milligrams of aspirin every other day or a placebo. The report appears online in Heart.

Overall, aspirin use was associated with a reduced risk for cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer. But in a majority of women — those younger than 65 — the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding outweighed the benefit. For women older than 65, the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer increases, but so does the risk of bleeding. Still, the researchers conclude that the benefit outweighs the risk.

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