Causes of male infertility: a 9-year prospective monocentre study on 1737 patients with reduced total sperm counts
STUDY QUESTION
What are the primary causes of severe male factor infertility?
SUMMARY ANSWER
Although 40% of all patients showed primary causes of infertility, which could be subdivided into three groups based on the severity of their effect, ~75% of oligozoospermia cases remained idiopathic.
WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
There are few large-scale epidemiological studies analyzing the causes of male factor infertility.
STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION
A prospective clinical-epidemiological study was conducted at the Andrology Centre, Tartu University Hospital between 2005 and 2013, recruiting male partners of couples failing to conceive a child for over ≥12 months. Among 8518 patients, 1737 (20.4%) were diagnosed with severe male factor infertility. A reference group of fertile controls was comprised of 325 partners of pregnant women.
PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS
The mean age of infertility patients and fertile controls was 33.2 ± 7.3 and 31.7 ± 6.3 years, respectively. All participants were examined using a standardized andrology workup, accompanied by a structured medical interview. Hormonal analysis included serum FSH, LH and testosterone. Semen quality was determined in accordance to the World Health Organization recommendations. Cases with spermatozoa concentrations of ≤5 million/ml were screened for chromosomal aberrations and Y-chromosomal microdeletions.
MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
The primary cause of infertility w...
Source: Human Reproduction - Category: Reproduction Medicine Authors: Punab, M., Poolamets, O., Paju, P., Vihljajev, V., Pomm, K., Ladva, R., Korrovits, P., Laan, M. Tags: Andrology Source Type: research
More News: Azoospermia | Cancer | Cancer & Oncology | Children | Cryptosporidiosis | Eating Disorders & Weight Management | Epidemiology | Estonia Health | Funding | Genetics | Grants | Hormones | Hospitals | Infertility | International Medicine & Public Health | Low Testosterone | Mumps | Obesity | Pregnancy | Reproduction Medicine | Sexual Dysfunction | Study | WHO | Women