Infertility Attributed to Diaper Use

B O S T O N, Sept. 25 -- Could diapers be causing a rash — of male infertility?

German researchers say the wide use of disposable diapers may be one explanation for the worldwide decline in male sperm counts documented in recent decades. But several experts decry the soiling of diaper’s clean image.

The study, which was published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, found that male babies who wear plastic rather than cotton diapers had a significant rise in scrotum temperature, which the researchers theorize may cause infertility problems later in life. The scrotum is the external sac of skin that encloses the testes, where the body makes sperm.

Plastic Vs. Cotton The researchers placed 48 babies in plastic Pampers and cotton diapers and compared their scrotal temperatures for the next 24 hours. They found a 1 degree Celcius rise in the babies who wore plastic diapers, or “nappies.”

“The physiological testicular cooling mechanism is blunted and often completed abolished during plastic nappy use,” somberly write the authors, led by Dr. C.J. Partsch, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Kiel in Germany. “The impact of a temperature increase on the developing testis is unknown.”

Although a rise in temperature has been shown to harm sperm development in adults, it remains unclear what the impact of the heat could have on babies.

Urology experts agree a 1 degree to 3 degree Celsius rise in testis temperature has been shown to harm sperm development and motility in adults, says Grace Centola, president of the Society for Male Reproduction and Urology in Bryn Mawr, Pa.

Testes Need Cooler Environment That’s because testicles need to be around 3 degrees cooler than the body’s normal temperature for ideal sperm production; thus, their anatomical banishment outside of the body. Men striving towards fatherhood are advised to avoid tight briefs and hot tubs to better their chances.

But an infant’s developing testicles won’t begin producing sperm until puberty is reached at least a decade later and some experts doubt the slight rise in temperature could have a later affect on infertility.