THURSDAY, May 1, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made headlines with dire warnings that declining birth rates are an “existential crisis” for humanity.

The threat might be even more dire than Musk (the f...

AI might be able to boost the success rates of in vitro fertilization among hopeful families.

An AI program can help doctors analyze ultrasound scans to determine the best timing for a hormone injection associated with egg collection, researchers write in a new study published Jan. 8 in...

For the second time this year, the Senate plans to vote Tuesday on a law that would create a nationwide right to IVF.

The bill was already blocked by Republicans earlier this year, but Democrats are hoping to use this second vote to pressure Republican congressional candidates on the hot button issue, the Associated Press reported.

The push to establish national protections...

City living may be tough on couples wanting to conceive: New data shows that air pollution appears to be linked to lower fertility in men, while noisy traffic could harm the fertility of women.

“If our results are confirmed in future studies, it suggests that political implementation of air pollution and noise mitigations may be important tools for improving birth rates in the weste...

Women are becoming pregnant after having their tubes tied, even though the procedure is considered a “permanent” form of birth control, a new study warns.

Between 3% and 5% of U.S. women who underwent tubal ligation later reported an unplanned pregnancy, according to findings published...

Human papillomavirus (HPV) has largely been seen as a health problem of women, given that it causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer.

But men also have reason to both fear HPV and get vaccinated against it, a new study says.

Infection with high-ri...

Women are often being sold a fertility test that paints a misleading picture of their ability to conceive a child, a new study warns.

The anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) test uses a blood sample to estimate the number of eggs available in the ovaries of adult women, researchers explained.

However, the AMH test doesn’t judge the quality of those eggs, and it cannot reliably predi...

A drug called hydroxyurea has long been used to fight sickle cell disease, but some female patients may have shied away from it due to concerns that it could harm future fertility.

Those fears may be unfounded: A new study finds that hydroxyurea has no effect on what's known as "ovarian reserve" -- the number of healthy eggs a girl ...

In a finding that suggests microplastics may pose a special danger to men, a new study has shown that human testicles contain these tiny bits of plastic at levels triple that seen in animal testicles and human placentas.

"They look like little shards, tiny broken bits from very, very old plastics,"said lead researcher Matthew ...

Women treated for infertility were twice as likely as those who conceived naturally to be hospitalized with heart disease within a year of delivery, recent research shows.

They are particularly likely to land in the hospital with dangerously high blood press...

Just three weeks after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos should be considered children, lawmakers in that state passed legislation that shields both patients and providers who use in vitro fertilization (IVF) from civil and criminal liability.

Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed the bill into law shortly after it was passed by the Senate on Wednesday.

Following the...

In a ruling that could drastically limit future infertility care, the Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law.

In the decision, judges ...

Exposure to toxic heavy metals could cause middle-aged women to have more health problems as they grow older, a new study finds.

The study links toxic metal exposure to women having fewer eggs in their ovaries as they approach menopause.

This condition -- known as diminished ovarian reserve -- could cause worse health problems during menopause and afterwards, researchers say.

...

Microbiomes: You've probably heard of these communities of largely helpful bacteria that colonize the gut or the skin.

But a man's semen has a microbiome of its own, and new research suggests it could play a role in fertility.

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles examined the microbiomes and sperm he...

Exposure to a common chemical group found in many household products may delay or even prevent a woman from becoming pregnant, a new study says.

Phthalates can lower a woman's odds of becoming pregnant by up to 18% in any given month, researchers report in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Phthalates ...

Women struggling with fertility and using in vitro fertilization (IVF) to conceive sometimes turn to supplements for help.

Unfortunately, a new study finds only weak evidence to support that strategy.

In contrast, the same research found that the heart-healthy Mediterranean diet does boost the odds that a woman will become a mother.

Compared to the fat- and sugar-rich Western ...

Remaining childless throughout adult life might be tied, in some cases, to illnesses experienced in childhood, new research suggests.

Childlessness isn't just about fertility. As a University of Oxford news release on the study noted, "multiple social, economic and individual preferences have been studied" to understand why ...

Much has been made of the effects a pregnant woman's drinking could have on the health of her unborn child.

But alcohol consumption by men also increases the risk of birth defects in newborns -- and a new study shows that guys who want to avoid this will have to cut out the booze as much as three months before they try to conceive.

Semen from men who regularly consume alcohol has be...

Bodybuilders are largely unaware that the protein supplements they use to bulk up might harm their fertility, a new study shows.

Four out of five male gym enthusiasts (79%) said they use protein supplements as part of their fitness plan, the poll found.

But only 14% had considered how those supplements -- which contain high levels of the female hormone estrogen -- might impact their...

Pesticide exposure appears to be linked to lower sperm concentrations in men around the world, a new large-scale evidence review has concluded.

A review of 25 studies spanning nearly 50 years found consistent links between lower sperm concentrations and two widely used classes of insecticides, organophosphates and N-methyl carbamates, researchers said.

"This review is the most compr...

Cellphone use might be blunting a fellow's chances of becoming a father, a major new study reports.

Young men who frequently use mobile phones have lower sperm concentrations and sperm counts than guys who rarely dial on the go, Swiss researchers found using more than a decade's worth of data.

However, the data also showed that the move to improved cell technologies like 4G could ha...

A new, more inclusive definition of infertility has been crafted by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).

While the guidance for heterosexual couples with medical reasons for being unable to conceive still exists, the definition has now been expanded to include other gr...

Researchers in Minnesota have uncovered a new link between tear gas exposures and negative effects on reproductive health.

The study was prompted by anecdotal reports of irregular menstrual cycles among protestors who were exposed to tear gas during the nationwide protests that followed the May 2020 murder of George Floyd.

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