Trial reportFertility and sterility2022
Longitudinal semen parameter assessments and live birth: variability and implications for treatment strategies.
Trial report in Fertility and sterility, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pharmacologic and Nutritional Therapies in Idiopathic Male Infertility: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Andrology · 2026Pooled it
- Dietary N-acetylcysteine enhances sperm motility by remodeling the rumen microbiome and its metabolic axis in goats.Journal of animal science and biotechnology · 2026Article
- Immunological mechanisms and precision stratification in male infertility: from testicular immune privilege and danger signal amplification to seminal immune biomarkers and mechanism-tailored intervention.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Impact of conventional cigarette and electronic cigarette use on sperm quality and IVF/ICSI outcomes.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The prevalence of abnormal semen parameters in male partners of women with anovulatory polycystic ovarian syndrome: a retrospective case-control study.Archives of gynecology and obstetrics · 2025Article
- Review
- Do different male infertility factors impact embryological, cumulative pregnancy and neonatal outcomes in IVF/ICSI cycles? A retrospective cohort study.Human reproduction open · 2025Article
- Is There Any Effect of Change in Pre-Wash and Post-Wash Semen Parameters on the Success of Intrauterine Insemination?Journal of personalized medicine · 2023Article
- A comparison between the Felix™ electrophoretic system of sperm isolation and conventional density gradient centrifugation: a multicentre analysis.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo examine whether semen parameters are associated with live birth among couples seeking infertility treatment after accounting for semen parameter variability.
designFolic Acid and Zinc Supplementation Trial (FAZST) prospective cohort.
settingFour US reproductive endocrinology and infertility care study centers, 2013-2017. PATIENT(S): Couples (n = 2,369) seeking fertility consultations at 4 US infertility care study centers. INTERVENTION(S): Semen volume, pH, sperm viability, morphology, progressive and total motility, concentration, count, and total and progressive motile count assessed at baseline and at 2, 4, and 6 months after enrollment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Log-binomial models stratified by fertility treatment received (in vitro fertilization [IVF], intrauterine insemination [IUI], ovulation induction [OI], or no treatment) estimated risk differences (RDs) between semen parameter quartiles and live birth and accounted for multiple semen assessments per person. We accounted for abstinence time, the biological interdependence of semen parameters, and potential selection bias because of loss to follow-up. RESULT(S): Among couples using OI only or no treatment, 39% had a live birth, and relative to the highest quartile, the lowest quartiles of morphology (RD, -19 [95% CI, -23 to -15] per 100 couples), motility (RD, -13 [95% CI, -17 to -9]), concentration (RD, -22 [95% CI, -26 to -19]), and total motile count (RD, -18 [95% CI, -22 to -14]) were associated with fewer live births. For IUI, 26% had a live birth, and the lowest quartiles of volume (RD, -6 [95% CI, -11 to -0.4]), concentration (RD, -6 [95% CI, -11 to -0.1]), count (RD, -10 [95% CI, -15 to -4]), and total motile count (RD, -7 [95% CI, -13 to -1]) were associated with fewer live births. For IVF, 61% had a live birth, and only morphology (Q1 RD, -7 [95% CI, -14 to 0.2]; Q2 RD, -10 [95% CI, -17 to -2.2]) was associated with live birth. CONCLUSION(S): Semen parameters are critical in couples undergoing OI/IUI. Only low morphology was important for live birth after IVF. Although data supporting the use of semen parameters are fragmented across differing populations, current findings are generalizable across the range of male fertility and couple fertility treatments, providing evidence about which semen parameters are most relevant in which settings. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT#01857310.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.