Vasectomy in men with primary progressive aphasia.
OBJECTIVE
To study the frequency of vasectomy in men with primary progressive aphasia (PPA).


BACKGROUND
PPA is a dementia syndrome in which aphasia emerges in relative isolation during the initial stages of illness. On the basis of a clinical observation in a patient who dated the onset of symptoms to the period after a vasectomy, and because of the curious sharing of the tau protein exclusively by brain and sperm, vasectomy rates were examined in men with PPA.


METHODS
This study used a case control design. Forty-seven men with PPA and 57 men with no cognitive impairment (NC) between 55 and 80 years of age were surveyed about a history of vasectomy.


RESULTS
The age-adjusted rate of vasectomy in PPA patients (40%) was higher than in NC (16%, P=0.02). There was a younger age at onset for the patients with vasectomy (58.8 vs. 62.9 y, P=0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
Vasectomy may constitute one risk factor for PPA in men. Potential mechanisms mediating risk include vasectomy-induced immune responses to sperm, which shares antigenic epitopes with brain. Antisperm antibodies can also develop in women and become risk factors for PPA.
Weintraub
Sandra
S
Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center, Department of Neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. sweintraub@northwestern.edu
Fahey
Christopher
C
Johnson
Nancy
N
Mesulam
Marek-Marsel
MM
Gitelman
Darren R
DR
Weitner
Bing B
BB
Rademaker
Alfred
A
D000368:Aged; D018888:Aphasia, Primary Progressive / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015984:Causality; D002641:Chicago / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D014659:Vasectomy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*