Kumar, N., & Singh, A. K. (2015). Trends of male factor infertility, an important cause of infertility: A review of literature. Journal of human reproductive sciences, 8(4), 191-6. https://doi.org/10.4103/0974-1208.170370
Kumar N, Singh AK. Trends of male factor infertility, an important cause of infertility: A review of literature. Journal of human reproductive sciences. 2015;8(4):191-6. doi:10.4103/0974-1208.170370
Kumar, Naina, and Amit Kant Singh. "Trends of male factor infertility, an important cause of infertility: A review of literature." Journal of human reproductive sciences, vol. 8, no. 4, 2015, pp. 191-6.
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Male factor accounts for 40-50% of infertility, a review reports
A 2015 literature review reports that male factor accounts for 40-50% of infertility cases among couples. The authors sum up studies from many countries, with added attention to India. Studies of sperm quality over time disagree, and the cause of any decline is unclear.
Key Findings
According to the review, male factor accounts for 40-50% of infertility in humans.
A 1992 meta-analysis pooled 61 articles and 14,947 men with no previous history of infertility. Mean sperm count fell 1% per year between 1938 and 1990.
Among 4867 men in the general Danish population, median sperm concentration rose from 43 to 48 million/ml between 1996 and 2010.
In Marseille, 10,932 male partners of infertile couples were analyzed between 1988 and 2007. The study reported sperm concentration declining 1.5%/year.
The review cites studies reporting a 0.17–0.6% fall in sperm motility and a 0.2–0.9% fall in normal sperm shape per year of a man's age.
Interpretation
The paper is a narrative review. The authors give no search method, and the figures come from studies in different countries and decades. The studies reach opposite conclusions on whether sperm quality is falling. The authors state that the cause of any decline is unclear. They also write that data on declining sperm count in Indian men is limited, and that exact rates in developing countries are hard to find. The male-factor shares in the sources it cites range from 20% to about 50%.
RRM Context
Restorative reproductive medicine evaluates both partners. The WHO study the review cites found causal factors in both partners for 27% of cases and attributed 20% to male factors. For India, the review reports over 25% of cases with no cause found by routine tests. That is undiagnosed infertility, a reason to keep looking.
Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.
Abstract
Infertility and problems of impaired fecundity have been a concern through ages and is also a significant clinical problem today, which affects 8-12% of couples worldwide. Of all infertility cases, approximately 40-50% is due to "male factor" infertility and as many as 2% of all men will exhibit suboptimal sperm parameters. It may be one or a combination of low sperm concentration, poor sperm motility, or abnormal morphology. The rates of infertility in less industrialized nations are markedly higher and infectious diseases are responsible for a greater proportion of infertility. The present literature will help in knowing the trends of male factor infertility in developing nations like India and to find out in future, various factors that may be responsible for male infertility.
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