“Can diabetes in men affect their fertility?”

It rarely can. The key word is "rarely." There are many factors to this answer: Does he have Type 1 or type 2? Is he overweight or not? Does he have other endocrine deficiencies (hormone deficiencies), which are often associated with type 1? The good news is that many times, it can be "fixed."

Yes, diabetes can affect a male partner's ability to conceive, but the likelihood for that in your husband’s case is small, especially if he has extended efforts to control his diabetes. Good control assures successful conception.

4 years of diabetes, even poorly controlled, is unlikely to have an impact on fertility. Erectile dysfunction would be unlikely to occur after this brief duration. Likewise, the jury is out regarding sperm function. Recognize, that having a Type 1 diabetic child approximates 1 in 17 (6%). Paradoxically, it is somewhat less likely if the mother has Type 1 diabetes.

I am assuming that your husband's diabetes is of the type 2 version. As such, this does not constitute any risk for the baby; except for the fact that he may have some infertility issues, if he is obese. Make sure that he is exercising well, and reduce stresses. Good luck!

Dr Sunil
www.glandscenter.com

The easy answer is likely not, unless there is an existing fertility problem. The truthful answer depends on the state of control of diabetes, the lipid status, is the husband a smoker? The baby can only be affected when the mother carrying it, has diabetes.

Should not if his diabetes is well controlled.

Yes diabetes can effect fertility in both sexes. Get the diabetes under control. The problems that diabetes causes including erectile dysfunction & fertility are due to poor control of the blood sugar & the metabolic abnormalities that go with that. So be sure he is checking BS levels, reporting them to the DR. so the DR can get his BS under tight control. Can it effect the baby? That is a hard on. We know that diabetes in the mother can effect the baby unless the diabetes is kept in good control. The fathers diabetes will have no effect on the pregnancy or the newborn but statistics show that there is a higher incidence of children later in life developing diabetes when the father has diabetes than when the mother has it. Why we do not know. In any event the incidence is low & not much higher than the general population. SO get his diabetes under control & GO FOR IT!