Objective: To investigate the long-term impacts of the 15-year Lebanese civil war on male infertility.
Design: Clinic-based, case-control study, using reproductive history and risk factor interview data and laboratory-based semen analysis.
Setting: Two IVF clinics in Beirut, Lebanon, during an 8-month period (January-August 2003).
Patient(s): One hundred twenty infertile male cases and 100 fertile male controls, distinguished by semen analysis and reproductive history.
Intervention(s): None.
Main outcome measure(s): Standard clinical semen analysis.
Result(s): Infertile male cases were more likely than fertile controls to have lived through the Lebanese civil war and to have experienced war-related trauma (residence in bombing areas, participation in combat, injuries, kidnapping, and displacement from home). Cases had a 57% increase in their odds of exposure to civil war-related trauma.
Conclusion(s): This case-control study demonstrates an association between the Lebanese civil war and male infertility. Wartime and postwar exposure to a number of potential reproductive risk factors-including toxins, injuries, and stress-is believed to be the main factor leading to this finding.