What are the causes of infertility in men?

Male infertility is far more common than people think and account for around a third of all infertility cases (Ref: HFEA).

Most of these are likely to be sperm disorders such as low sperm count etc.

The main causes of male infertility are:

• Low sperm count (oligspermia)
• Absence of sperm (azoospermia)
• Injury to the testicles
• Hormonal disorder
• Variococele
• Trauma or disease of the vas deferens
• Medical conditions which affect fertility
• Side effects from certain medications
• Exposure to environmental factors and toxins
• Genetic disorder (e.g. chromosome abnormality)
• Age (male fertility can start to decline from the mid thirties)
• Lifestyle issues, e.g. smoking

And not forgetting a small percentage of cases in which the cause of the infertility cannot be found. This is known as ‘idiopathic infertility’.