Home > Recreational drug misuse and its potential contribution to male fertility levels' decline: a narrative review.

Schifano, Nicolò and Chiappini, Stefania and Mosca, Alessio and Miuli, Andrea and Santovito, Maria Chiara and Pettorruso, Mauro and Capogrosso, Paolo and Dehò, Federico and Martinotti, Giovanni and Schifano, Fabrizio (2022) Recreational drug misuse and its potential contribution to male fertility levels' decline: a narrative review. Brain Sciences, 12, (11), 1582. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12111582.

External website: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/12/11/1582

Recreational drug intake may be associated with a range of medical untoward consequences, including male infertility. However, as the related evidence is still limited, the main outcome of this review is to provide a better understanding of the existence of any association between recreational drug misuse and male fertility levels' decline. Whilst searching the MEDLINE/PubMed, a comprehensive overview of the literature regarding male infertility and substances of abuse (e.g., phytocannabinoids, opiates/opioids, stimulants, 'herbal highs', psychedelics, and 'novel psychoactive substances) was here undertaken. Due to the paucity of robust, high-quality, empirical, human studies, a narrative strategy was here preferred over a systematic approach. Relevant data are qualitatively analyzed and presented in a table. Although most available evidence is in support of a detrimental role of cannabis on human spermatogenesis, a few remaining studies failed to document any effect of this drug on seminal quality, and it is not clear to which extent this drug impacts fertility rates/time to pregnancy. The current understanding of the impact of opiate-, cocaine- and amphetamine/stimulant-misuse on human reproduction is widely unknown, and most studies dealing with this matter represent only an extrapolation of data derived from specific clinical circumstances. Although the message of 'no smoking, no alcohol and no street drugs' should always be offered as good health advice to all patients seeking medical help for fertility issues, robust scientific clinical evidence in support of a direct detrimental impact of recreational drugs on spermatogenesis is scant to date.


Item Type
Article
Publication Type
International, Open Access, Article
Drug Type
Substances (not alcohol/tobacco)
Intervention Type
Prevention, Harm reduction
Date
19 November 2022
Identification #
https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12111582
Publisher
MDPI
Volume
12
Number
11
EndNote

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