Profiles of the semen analyses of male partners of infertile couples in a Nigerian population

Abstract

Proper evaluation of the infertile couple in the African setting is hampered by the fact that the male partner hardly presents for investigations. This is because it is generally believed that the cause of infertility lies in the woman since the man may have had children from another wife in a polygamous setting. This study looks at the possible contribution of the male factor to infertility in a Nigerian population against the backdrop of the fact that they rarely present themselves for evaluation in this environment. The semen analysis results of 402 male partners of infertile couples who agreed to semen analysis in our infertility clinics between August 2001 and July 2003 were analyzed for abnormalities. One hundred and seventy one (42.5%) of the subjects had a sperm count of less than 20 million per ml. Fifty six (13.9%) of the subjects were azoospermic, while a total of 214 (53.2%) had sperm motility of less than 50% (inclusive of the azoospermic subjects). Conclusion: Male factor contribution to infertility in this populace seems to be very high; hence, efforts should be made to encourage the male partners to present for evaluation so as to ascertain the true contribution of the male factor to infertility in this environment.