title: High educational level associated with reduced semen quality in men with asymptomatic varicocele testis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationship between education, intelligence, varicocele testis and semen quality.
  
  
  METHODS
  Of 542 newly-enlisted soldiers (median age 20 years, range 20-24) 47 men were found who had varicocele testis. Semen quality was assessed in 39 of the men with a varicocele and compared with a similar group with no varicocele. The educational level and intelligence of both groups was also assessed and compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a significantly reduced quality of semen in men with varicoceles and in men with > 10 years of school education. There was no significant relationship between intelligence level and semen quality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The assumption that there is a relationship between educational level and semen quality in men with asymptomatic varicocele seems well-founded, and educational level should therefore be considered as an explanatory variable in future investigations; studies are also required to provide a biological explanation of this phenomenon.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Randers University Hospital, Denmark.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lund
authors.forename: H T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Sørensen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004522:Educational Status; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D012661:Semen / Q000502:physiology*; D014646:Varicocele / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology