Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41486877›Full record

ReviewEndocrinology2026

Is Male Infertility an Early Warning of More Serious Diseases?

Dolores J Lamb

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Endocrinology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Dolores J LambChildrens Mercy Hospital Department of Surgery/Division of Pediatric Urology and Children's Mercy Research Institute, Kansas City, MO 64108, USA; University of Missouri-School of Medicine, Kansas City, MO 64112, USA; Kansas University Medical Center University, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-4389-5065

Funding

DNA Repair Deficiencies in Infertile Men and Cancer RiskR01CA290670 · NCI · WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV · PI Dolores Jean Lamb · 2024 to 2026
$1.8M
National Institute of CancerNCI NIH HHS R01 CA290670NIH HHS
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

About 12% of couples worldwide are infertile. Male factor infertility causes or is contributory to a couple's ability to conceive in approximately 50% of cases. Evidence has emerged that infertile men have poor overall health and increased morbidity and mortality, yet the causes for this are poorly understood. Although these men may appear healthy, research shows that they can harbor a wide variety of systemic diseases and illnesses that may share common links with the causes of their infertility. In fact, as semen parameters decline, their risks of several health conditions increase. In the early 1990s to the present, studies revealed that 1% to 6% of unselected infertile men seeking clinical evaluation have significant and (sometimes) life-threatening pathologies ranging from endocrine abnormalities to malignancies, developmental anomalies, and genetic diseases. Yet, despite this knowledge, for couples seeking treatment of their infertility, the female partner undergoes extensive clinical evaluation but the male partner frequently is only asked to provide a specimen for a routine semen analysis. This review focuses on the current understanding of the association of the genetic causes of male infertility and a multitude of diseases that affect these men's overall health and their increased risk of mortality.

Indexed as

Infertility, MaleHumansMalecancerhealth risksmale infertilityspermatogenic failure

Identifiers

PMID41486877
PMCPMC13017433

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.