Men's health

Vasectomies Linked to rare form of Dementia

Cut once, think twice

As if men needed more reasons to balk, a Northwestern University study suggests vasectomies may be linked with an increased risk of contracting a rare form of dementia.

Primary Progressive Aplasia or PPA impairs a person's understanding of language and the ability to express oneself. PPA generally strikes victims in their 40s and 50s.

Spurred by a patient who believed his PPA was linked to an earlier vasectomy, Sandra Weintraub, a clinical neuropsychologist at Northwestern, studied 47 men with PPA and 57 men free of cognitive impairment, all ages 55 to 80. She found that 40 percent of the PPA patients had undergone vasectomies, compared with just 16 percent of the control group.

The findings do not prove cause and effect, Weintraub cautioned. But she does propose a possible theory behind the link: In humans, there is a blood-testes barrier similar to the blood-brain barrier. Vasectomies rupture this barrier, allowing semen to enter the bloodstream.

“Sixty to 70 percent of men will develop antibodies which try to kill the sperm,” Weintraub said. “The question is whether these antibodies are somehow interacting with the brain, too.”

Weintraub says she will expand her research nationally.

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