Prevalence of Male Infertility among the Infertile Couples Attended at BIRDEM General Hospital, Dhaka

Abstract

Background & objective: Infertility is a problem of public health importance because of its high prevalence and serious social implications on affected couples and families. Although once believed that the problem is solely due to female factor, it is now generally accepted that male factor infertility is equally as important as the female factor. However, it is not known how far the problem is attributed to male factor. The present study is intended to find the prevalence of male infertility among the infertile couples and its determinants in the context of Bangladeshi population.

Patients & Methods: The present study was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on male partners of infertile couples (over a period of three months) visiting the Infertility Clinic of Bangladesh Institute of Research and Development in Endocrine & Metabolism (BIRDEM) General Hospital, Dhaka. Male infertility was defined as the inability of a man to make his partner conceive (because of quantitative and/or quantitative deficiency of his sperm) after 12 months of regular unprotected sexual intercourse. On the basis of semen analysis, male partners were divided into two groups – Infertile Group and Fertile Group and the suspected factors were compared between groups using crosstab analysis to determine the factors responsible for male infertility.

Result: The present study demonstrated that respondents were generally middle aged (between 30-50 years) with mean age being 35.5 years. Majority (88.5%) was Muslim and belonged to middle class (74.3%). Nearly half (47%) was service-holder and one-third (35.8%) was businessman. About 62% of the male partners were revealed to be infertile on semen analysis [combined prevalence of azoospermia (19%), asthezoospermia (29.2%) oligospermia (12.8%), and teratzoospermia (7.1%)]. Of them nearly one-third (azoospermic ones) was solely responsible for infertility and the rest played contributing role to the overall infertility. The reproductive tract infection (STDs) was reported to be alarmingly high among infertile males (21.4%) than that among their fertile peers (p = 0.002). Smoking, varicocele, overweight or obesity and diabetes also demonstrated their significant presence among infertile males compared to the fertile male group. History of occupational exposure to high temperature, pesticide, trauma to testes, abdominal and urogenital surgery were not associated with male partner fertility.

Conclusion: From the findings of the present study, it can be concluded that a substantial proportion of infertility can be attributed due to male partner infertility and its significant predictors are reproductive tract infections or sexually transmitted diseases. The second leading causes are varicocel, diabetes and obesity.

Ibrahim Card Med J 2016; 6 (1&2): 25-32