ArticleThe world journal of men's health2026
Sperm DNA Fragmentation in Men with Varicocele: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Article in The world journal of men's health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Is Varicocele Truly Unilateral? Contralateral Involvement and Bilateral Testicular Effects in Male Infertility: A Narrative Review.Journal of personalized medicine · 2026Review
- Oxidative Stress, Sperm DNA Fragmentation, or Both? Optimizing Test Selection in Male Infertility Evaluation.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Why Varicoceles Recur: Missed Venous Anatomy and Contemporary Strategies for Salvage.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
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Authors and funding
29 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeIn this systematic review and meta-analysis, we investigated the relationship between varicocele and sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) alongside conventional semen parameters. MATERIALS AND
methodsA comprehensive systematic search was conducted to identify articles on SDF in men with varicocele published in the Scopus and PubMed databases. This included observational studies investigating levels of SDF as a primary outcome and conventional semen parameters as secondary outcomes in men with varicocele compared to men without varicocele.
resultsOut of 476 retrieved articles, 40 met our inclusion criteria, with 35 included in our quantitative synthesis. Our analysis revealed that men with varicocele showed significantly higher SDF than men without varicocele (mean difference [MD] 15.34, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 9.74-20.9; p<0.001). The evaluation of SDF using different assays did not affect the results (p=0.7). Our results indicated a significant effect of varicocele on sperm concentration (MD -29 million/mL, 95% CI: -37, -21; p<0.001), total sperm count (MD -188 million/ejaculate, 95% CI: -325, -52; p=0.007), sperm vitality (MD -5.7%, 95% CI: -8.6, -2.8; p<0.001), total sperm motility (MD -17%, 95% CI: -29.0, -5.3; p=0.004), progressive sperm motility (MD -17%, 95% CI: -23,-11, p<0.001), normal sperm forms (MD -3.1%, 95% CI: -4.3, -1.8, p<0.001) and abnormal sperm forms (MD 2.25%, 95% CI: 0.77, 3.73; p=0.003). However, semen volume and the total motile sperm count were not significantly different between both groups (MD -113 million/ejaculate, 95% CI: -244.0, 18.1; p=0.09).
conclusionsVaricocele negatively impacts male fertility by increasing SDF. Our study supports using SDF analysis in patients with varicocele to aid clinicians in deciding on varicocele repair.
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