BACKGROUND: Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is one of the risk factors of impaired male fertility potential.
Studies have investigated the effect of CP/CPPS on several semen parameters but have shown inconsistent results. Hence, we performed a systematic literature review and meta-analysis to assess the association between CP/CPPS and basic semen parameters in adult men.
METHODS: Systematic literature searches were conducted with PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library up to August 2013 for case-control studies that involved the impact of CP/CPSS on semen parameters. Meta-analysis was performed with Review Manager and Stata software. Standard mean differences (SMD) of semen parameters were identified with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) in a random effects model.
RESULTS: Twelve studies were identified, including 999 cases of CP/CPPS and 455 controls. Our results illustrated that the sperm concentration and the percentage of progressively motile sperm and morphologically normal sperm from patients with CP/CPPS were significantly lower than controls (SMD (95% CI) -14.12 (-21.69, -6.63), -5.94 (-8.63, -3.25) and -8.26 (-11.83, -4.66), respectively). However, semen volume in the CP/CPPS group was higher than in the control group (SMD (95% CI) 0.50 (0.11, 0.89)). There was no significant effect of CP/CPPS on the total sperm count, sperm total motility, and sperm vitality.
CONCLUSIONS: The present study illustrates that there was a significant negative effect of CP/CPPS on sperm concentration, sperm progressive motility, and normal sperm morphology. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to better illuminate the negative impact of CP/CPPS on semen parameters.
Written by:
Fu W, Zhou Z, Liu S, Li Q, Yao J, Li W, Yan J. Are you the author?
Department of Urology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China; Institute for Pediatric Translational Medicine, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Reference: PLoS One. 2014 Apr 17;9(4):e94991.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0094991
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 24743301
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