Men with a small penis are less likely to become dads, a new study suggests.
Men who visited a clinic with fertility problems typically had a reproductive organ one centimeter smaller than other men.
Experts say the two issues are likely to be linked and caused by abnormal levels of sex hormones.
Researchers measured the penises of 815 men attending a men’s health clinic for a range of issues. Some 219 were seeking help for infertility and 596 for other conditions, such as impotence and testicular pain.
They were all measured using a standard test called “Stretched Penile Length” that estimates their size when erect.
Those without reproductive problems had an average length of 13.4 centimeters and those in the infertile group just 12.5 centimeters. The findings will be presented at the upcoming American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference in Colorado.
Study leader Dr. Austen Slade said: “This is the first study to identify an association between shorter penile length and male infertility. One centimeter may not be a striking difference but there was a clear statistical significance.”
Slade, from the University of Utah, added: “It remains to be determined if there are different penile length cut-offs that would predict more severe infertility.”
Sheena Lewis, from Queen’s University Belfast, said the study was unhelpful because there is nothing a man with a small penis can do about it.
She added: “We give men such a bad press all the time and the one thing that scares them is that size matters. To now to say they have a smaller chance of becoming a father is not a good message.”
“This is also a problem you cannot find a solution to – what can you do about it? This is a very novel idea but the study does not tell us what a normal penis length is.”
Source: nypost.com
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