Health. Cases of precocious puberty and degraded sperm caused by the environment

The Public Health Agency France baderts that the deterioration of sperm quality and cases of early puberty may have environmental causes.

The deterioration of sperm quality and cases of early puberty have probably environmental causes, but they are difficult to disentangle, said Tuesday Public Health France. The health agency looks into its "Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin" on this "global indicator of public health" that is sperm.

The trend is worrying. Between 1989 and 2005, its sperm concentration dropped by almost a third (-32.2%), or nearly 2% per year, according to measurements made on nearly 27,000 men. "It is possible that this decline began in the 1970s if we take into account a previous study conducted in the Paris region from 1973 to 1992 ", have also emphasized the researchers.

Phenomenon world

This phenomenon is not unique to France. The authors cite a study of 2017 that estimates this decline at "1.4% per annum" on average "in Western countries (North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand) . " "Various causal hypotheses can be evoked, including exposures to PE" (endocrine disruptors), argue the authors.

"Other causes are possible or may be intricate with the previous ones, such as smoking in pregnant women […] nutritional or metabolic factors, air pollution or lifestyle changes (sedentary lifestyle, stress, heat, sleep) ", they add. At the same time, cases of testicular cancer, which occur most often in patients aged 20 to 40, are progressing. From 1998 to 2014, the incidence of the disease increased by 1.5% per year

This increase "in populations of North European origin for several decades is a known fact and still unexplained" underline the researchers. The cases of precocious puberty are only beginning to be recorded, by the number of children treated. Manifested by "signs of puberty before the age of eight in girls and nine years in boys" this puberty can have multiple adverse consequences for physical and mental health.

10 times more girls than boys

She touches girls 10 times more than boys. And the differences are marked between regions, with two particularly affected areas: the former Midi-Pyrénées region and the Rhône department, with incidences several times higher than the national average. "Early puberty may be linked to specific genetic factors, and ethnic / population factors may also play a role," estimates Public Health France.

But "the role of a environmental exposure to potentially endocrine disrupting substances that may be of human origin (linked to the intervention of humans, ed) must be taken into consideration, without excluding environmental factors not yet identified ", according to the researchers .