You might think so looking at newspaper reports of a study examining the effect of paroxetine on sperm quality. It’s well known that antidepressants, the SSRIs in particular, can have sexual side effects: notably a drop in libido and delayed orgasm. In fact the SSRIs have been used pretty effectively as a treatment for premature ejaculation. Sexual dysfunction is one thing but infertility is another, so what does this study by a team of New York urologists actually tell us?

Bear in mind that this is a very small before and after study with no control group, which might explain why it hasn’t appeared in a peer-reviewed publication but did make the BBC News. Thirty-five healthy (and presumably not depressed) men were given paroxetine at doses of up to 30mg daily for 5 weeks. The researchers looked at the men’s semen at baseline and then four weeks into the study. Sperm numbers, motility and morphology were unaffected but the level of damaged sperm DNA rose from a mean of 14% to 30%. Clinically significant? A good question and one that’s debatable according to Allan Pacey, Senior Lecturer in Andrology at the University of Sheffield. More and better research needed seems to be the message. Should this study change practice? I don’t think so. A long list of drugs, both prescribed and recreational, are known to affect sperm quality. What’s reassuring is that most men seem to produce enough of the stuff for their fertility to remain unaffected and sperm quality usually returns to normal once the drug is withdrawn.