Impact of Age on Semen Quality in Male Partners of Infertile Couple: A retrospective study in a tertiary Hospital in North-West Nigeria.

Abstract

Background: Spermatogenesis is known to persist well into old age. Nevertheless, advanced paternal age has been associated with significant reductions in pregnancy rates, and age-related decline in androgen secretion levels suggestive of impairment in sperm parameters. Aim: To determine association between age and semen quality in male partners of infertile couple attending fertility clinic in a tertiary Hospital in North-Western Nigeria. Method: This was a retrospective study. The laboratory semen analysis (SA) records of male partners of infertile couples seen at the fertility clinic for a 3-year period (January 2019 to December 2021) retrieved were analysed using SPSS version 23. Result: Data retrieval rate was 75.3%. The mean age of male Partners with normal & abnormal SA were 33.79±7.21 and 37.57±8.63 respectively. There were 261 (57.7%) abnormal SA. We found a negative association between age and semen quality in terms of volume, non-progressive motility (NPM), progressive motility (PM), vitality, morphology and sperm concentration (p<0.05), but no association between age, and sperm pH & immotile sperm for the normal & abnormal SA parameters combined. While with the normal & abnormal SA groups separated; only morphology had a significant negative correlation for the normal SA group. There was still significant negative correlation in NPM, PM, vitality, morphology & sperm concentration for the abnormal SA group. Conclusion: This study found that non-progressive motility, progressive motility, vitality, morphology and sperm concentration decreases significantly as age increases in men with abnormal SA, and a non-significant decrease in semen volume, pH and immotile sperm with age.