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Reproductive Health Problems in the Greater Athens Area

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Reproductive Health and the Environment

Part of the book series: Environmental Science and Technology Library ((ENST,volume 22))

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Summary

A number of reproductive health parameters have been evaluated in people living in the Greater Athens area. These include:

  • changes in important seminal characters of men investigated for subfertility,

  • the ratio of male to female newborn infants delivered in a busy maternity hospital over a period of 35 years,

  • the incidence of premature menopause in a large cohort of Athenian women investigated recently,

  • public awareness of gonadal decline in ageing men and its importance in their well-being.

The findings are:

  1. 1.

    A declining trend for seminal volume (p < 0.01) and sperm number (P < 0.001) was observed in a representative sample of 2385 Athenian men investigated during the period 1977 to 1993.

  2. 2.

    A decreasing trend in the ratio of male to female infants (P < 0.01) was documented in 221.799 births recorded during the period 1969-2003 in this hospital.

  3. 3.

    A higher incidence of perinatal care needs and raised in male newborns and more premature mortality in male neonates than in girls.

  4. 4.

    A high percentage of Athenian women (22.2%) who fail to reach the age of natural menopause, with 10.5% experiencing menopause before the age of 40 years.

  5. 5.

    A low public awareness of reproductive health problems in Athenian men over 50 years of age. Those, however, who were properly informed showed a better physical, mental and sexual activity.

Overall the data show that certain aspects of reproductive health have markedly deteriorated during the last 2-3 decades the Greater Athens area. The implications of these findings justify important concerns on reproductive health in some agespecific groups in the area of Greek capital.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Elena Venizelou Hospital, 2 Venizelou Square, Athens, 11521, Greece

    D.A. Adamopoulos & E. Koukkou

Authors
  1. D.A. Adamopoulos
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  2. E. Koukkou
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Medical School, Department of Pathology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    P. Nicolopoulou-Stamati

  2. Human Ecology Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

    L. Hens

  3. Bioimaging Research Group, Centre for Molecular Biosciences, University of Ulster, Coleraine, United Kingdom

    C.V. Howard

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Adamopoulos, D., Koukkou, E. (2007). Reproductive Health Problems in the Greater Athens Area. In: Nicolopoulou-Stamati, P., Hens, L., Howard, C. (eds) Reproductive Health and the Environment. Environmental Science and Technology Library, vol 22. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4829-7_16

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