Effects of chronic musculoskeletal pain on fertility potential in lean and overweight male patients

Fereshteh Dardmeh, Hiva Alipour, Hans Ingolf Nielsen, Sten Rasmussen and Parisa Gazerani

Department of Health Science and Technology, Biomedicine Group, The Faculty of Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark; SMI®, Department of Health Science and Technology, The Faculty of Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark; Department of Clinical Medicine, The Faculty of Medicine, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark

Abstract: Both chronic pain and obesity are known to affect reproductive hormone profiles in male patients. However, the effect of these conditions, alone or in combination, on male fertility potential has received less attention. 20 chronic musculoskeletal pain patients and 20 healthy controls were divided into lean and overweight subgroups according to their BMI. Current level of chronic pain (visual analogue scale) and pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) in 16 predefined sites, classically described and tested as painful points on the lower body, were measured. Levels of reproductive hormone and lipid profiles were assessed by ELISA. Sperm concentration and motility parameters were analyzed using a computer-aided sperm analysis system. Sperm concentration, progressive motility, and percentage of hyperactivated sperm were generally lower in the chronic pain patients in both lean and overweight groups. The overweight control and the lean chronic pain groups demonstrated a significantly lower percentage of progressively motile sperm compared with the lean control group, suggesting that musculoskeletal chronic pain may have a negative influence on sperm quality in lean patients. However, due to the potential great negative influence of obesity on the sperm parameters, it is difficult to propose if musculoskeletal chronic pain also influenced sperm quality in overweight patients. Further research in chronic pain patients is required to test this hypothesis.

Pain Research and Management – https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/4628627
Received 30 August 2017; Revised 3 November 2017; Accepted 13 November 2017; Published 24 December 2017