Effect of SARS-CoV-2 on semen parameters: A meta-analysis of 39 articles from 15 countries

• Published in: Journal of global health 2024-08, Vol.14, p.05021, Article 05021
• Main Authors: Wen, Lequan, Tian, Haokun, Huang, Xing, Song, Tiangang, Tang, Lirui, Wei, Wenjie, Tian, Shuo, Huang, Yan, Zhang, Xu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: COVID-19 - epidemiology; Humans; Male; SARS-CoV-2; Semen - virology; Semen Analysis; Sperm Count; Sperm Motility
• ISSN: 2047-2978; 2047-2986; 2047-2986
• DOI: 10.7189/jogh.14.05021

Declining birth rates during the pandemic have led to concerns about the potential impact of the of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on fertility among men. As previous studies have had inconsistent conclusions, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of SARS-CoV-2 on semen parameters. We searched several databases for articles published between 1 January 2020 and 25 July 2023. We performed a robust screening process based on predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria and, following quality assessment, extracted data from high-quality studies for the meta-analysis. We determined the P-values and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for both continuous and dichotomous variables, which we described using mean differences (MDs) and odds ratios (ORs), respectively. Lastly, we used the leave-one-out approach for our sensitivity analysis, and Begg's and Egger's tests to determine publication bias. We included 39 articles with 1887 cases and 2097 controls. In patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, the sperm volume (MD = -0.29; 95% CI = -0.50, -0.07; P = 0.008) and concentration (MD = -8.71; 95% CI = -16.94, -0.48; P = 0.04) were decreased, which increased oligospermia risk (OR = 2.49; 95% CI = 1.04, 5.99; P = 0.04). Furthermore, we observed reduced sperm motility (MD = -8.18; 95% CI = -12.19, -4.17; P