Men’s age may not affect odds of pregnancy after vasectomy reversal

Men’s age at the time of a vasectomy reversal may not impact the odds of achieving pregnancy, according to research published in Urology.

“These results are exciting for men looking to start families later in life who have had a vasectomy,” Mary Samplaski, MD, a male infertility specialist with the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the lead investigator of the study, said in a press release. “This research is especially timely because anecdotally, fertility doctors are seeing an increase in the number of men interested in vasectomy reversals as couples focus on family planning during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Samplaski and colleagues compared the outcomes of 2,777 men aged 50 years and older and 353 men aged younger than 50 years who underwent vasectomy reversal. The mean age of participants was 54 years in the older cohort and 39 years in the younger cohort.

The researchers found that among the younger group, 33.4% of men contributed to a pregnancy. In the older group, 26.1% of the men contributed to a pregnancy.

The researchers assessed several factors, including the number of years since the men had a vasectomy, smoking status and the age of their partners. They determined that there were higher odds of achieving pregnancy after vasectomy reversal when partners were aged younger than 35 years (OR = 1.659; 95% CI, 1.396-1.971) or if the men underwent their vasectomy fewer than 10 years before the vasectomy reversal (OR = 1.295; 95% CI, 1.097-1.529).

Samplaski and colleagues also found that men with a history of smoking had lower odds of contributing to pregnancy after a vasectomy reversal (OR = 0.523; 95% CI, 0.389-0.703).

There was no significant association between age at vasectomy reversal and pregnancy, according to the researchers.

“When we did a statistical analysis and examined all these other factors involved, the data showed that age had no bearing on success,” Samplaski said in the release. “Male age was not an independent factor.”

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that vasectomy reversal should be considered for men aged 50 years and older who hope to achieve pregnancy.

“The bottom line is, men over 50 can have successful outcomes in achieving pregnancy after a vasectomy reversal, and it should be considered a very viable option,” Samplaski said.

References:

• Nusbaum DJ, et al. Urology. 2020;doi:10.1016/j.urology.2020.04.141.
• Newswise. Men over 50 have same success with vasectomy reversal outcomes as younger men. https://www.newswise.com/articles/men-over-50-have-same-success-with-vasectomy-reversal-outcomes-as-younger-men. Accessed January 4, 2020.