Abstract
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease that may lead to different types of symptoms and disabilities. with the better quality of life and decreased disability due to early diagnosis and the availability of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), the treating physician is increasingly asked to counsel patients on its effects on fertility and reproduction. In particular, reproductive issues are still scarcely studied and discussed in men. Among the still open questions are the following: (a) Does multiple sclerosis cause infertility per sè? (b) Is multiple sclerosis correlated with conditions that increase the risk of infertility? (c) Do DMTs or other therapies for multiple sclerosis impact gonadal function in men? The aim of this review is to provide an overview on the available literature data about the reproductive issues unique to men with multiple sclerosis, underlining the numerous areas where evidence is lacking and, therefore, the priorities for future research.
Highlights
A review of literature published in English until July 2021 was conducted on PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar, using the search terms “multiple sclerosis” and/or “disease modifying agents” and “gonadotoxicity” and/or “fertility” and/or “male fertility”
There are currently no studies in the literature evaluating the prospective time to conceive of men with Multiple sclerosis (MS); only indirect information from population registries is available
A similar study in the Danish population reached similar conclusions some years before: out of more than 4 million Danish men, those who had become parents in the 5 years before had a significantly lower risk of being diagnosed with MS [18]. These results do not prove a correlation between the disease and reduced fertility, since these data are not calculated on the total number of men who searched for a pregnancy: those who had not had children may have not tried to conceive to begin with
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory, demyelinating, and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS) [1,2], affecting 2.8 million people in. Recent data [2] estimate the 2020 global prevalence to be 35.9 (95% CI: 35.87, 35.95). It is the most common cause of non-traumatic disability in young adults [4,5]
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