Abayomi B. Ajayi1, Bamgboye M. Afolabi2*, Victor D. Ajayi1, Ifeoluwa Oyetunji1, Oluwafunmilola Biobaku1, Adedamilola Atiba1
Abstract
Introduction: Men without sperm (azoospermic) make up about 15% of all infertile men in reproductive age of fatherhood. Male infertility is a health and social problem in many communities. Subjects and Methods: This retrospective study was carried from 2010 to 2015. Initially, 907 men were included in the study among whom 109 (12.02%), 346 (38.15%) and 452 (49.83%) were azoospermic, oligospermic and normospermic, respectively. This study only investigated the association between age, BMI, semen volume, liquefaction time and pus cells among normospermic and azoospermic men. Standard semen analysis was performed and subjects were categorized by age into <30, 30 – 39.9, 40 – 49.9, 50 – 59.9 and ≥60 years and by body mass index into normal (18.5 – 24.9), overweight (25.0 – 29.9) and obese (≥30). Results: The 562 subjects of the study had means (±sd) age of 42.6 (±7.10) years and BMI of 27.0 (4.1) kg/m2 respectively. In all, 109 (19.4%) were azoospermic. Overweight and obese men were, respectively, more than 11⁄2 and about 21⁄2 times more likely to be azoospermic compared to normal weight men. Azoospermic men were significantly heavier than men with normal sperm count (t = −0.34; P-value = 0.003). Among those with normal weight, liquefaction time was significantly shorter (t = 5.49, P-value = 0.000001) in azoospermic (28.70 min.) than in men with normal sperm count (31.82 min.). Obese azoospermic men were about 4 times as likely to have high pus cells in semen than normal weight azoospermic men (OR = 3.82; 95% CI: 0.39, 37.01). Multivariate regression analysis shows a strong but negative coefficient correlation between sperm concentration and BMI (coef. = −0.48, Std Err. = 0.25, P-value = 0.05, 95% CI: −0.96, 0.10). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that high BMI is associated with azoospermia. Azoospermia also did not seem to negatively impact liquefaction time.
Keywords
Azoospermia, Normal Sperm Concentration, Age, Body Mass Index, Male Infertility, Sub-Sahara Africa
Full Abstract Men without Sperms