Study examines link between laptops and fertility
From Mary Snow
CNN
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Can using a laptop computer make a man infertile?
That's the question being raised in a study looking at the effect of laptops and the heat they emit. Dr. Yefim Sheynkin, an assistant professor of urology at New York's Stony Brook University, says he believes laptops may carry a risk: "This may have a negative effect on fertility and sperm production."
Exercising, biking shorts, saunas, hot tubs -- doctors say all of these raise temperatures and have been linked to reduced sperm production and male infertility.
But these activities are occasional, allowing the effects to be reversed, says Sheynkin. Laptops have become part of everyday life.
"The laptop is used by a large population of men and this type of exposure is hard to avoid," says Sheynkin.
Some doctors caution it's too early to link laptops and infertility in men.
"I think it's a stretch to jump from a study on scrotum heat to saying it is linked to male infertility," says Dr. Chad Ritenour of Emory University's Department of Urology.
The study is small; it included only 29 men ages 21 to 35.
When participants sat with their legs together to balance the laptop, the study found the temperature in the area around the testicles rose 2.1 degrees centigrade. When the computer was turned on, the rise was 2.8 degrees centigrade.
One thing doctors do agree on is that the research is preliminary.
