ArticleFertility and sterility2025
Comparing remote smartphone-based semen assessments with laboratory evaluations in men unselected for fertility concerns.
Article in Fertility and sterility, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Bridging Methodology and Clinical Relevance: Toward More Robust Evidence for Antiox-idant Therapy in Male Infertility.International braz j urol : official journal of the Brazilian Society of UrologyArticle
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13 authors.
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Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the quality of remote semen collection and a smartphone-based semen analysis system under real-world conditions compared with a laboratory assessment among participants who were unselected for fertility status.
designProspective study. SUBJECTS: A total of 150 men unselected for fertility status who participated in the Reproductive Effects of Chemicals and Air Pollution (RECAP) study. EXPOSURE: Participants performed remote smartphone-based semen analysis and sent samples to a fertility center laboratory.
main outcome measuresAgreement of sperm concentration and motility using a smartphone-based analyzer and delayed evaluation in the andrology laboratory.
resultsOf 150 men who provided a semen sample analyzed remotely or at the laboratory, 92 had both usable smartphone and delayed Computer-Assisted Sperm Analysis (CASA) results. The median time (interquartile range) between semen collection and delayed laboratory assessment was 29.9 (26.5-32.3) hours. The median sperm concentrations were 83.0 million/mL by smartphone and 50.7 million/mL by delayed CASA assessment. The median total motility was 36.5% by smartphone and 4.5% by delayed laboratory assessment. The Bland-Altman plots comparing the smartphone analyzer with delayed laboratory assessment for sperm concentration and total sperm count suggest that differences between the 2 methods were higher as sperm concentration increased. Smartphone-based measures were highly reproducible for concentration (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.98) and motility (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.90). Smartphone-based systems had high specificity (86.2%) and negative predictive value (93.8%) for identifying men with low sperm concentration (<16 million/mL, n = 5) by laboratory assessment. There was a suggestion that sperm motility measured by smartphone was inversely associated with the probability of having no motile sperm in the delayed laboratory assessment.
conclusionSmartphone-based systems are a comparable option to a single laboratory-based CASA measurement and have logistical advantages for research studies and potentially as a clinical screening tool among men in the general population. Further studies are warranted to confirm their effectiveness and broader utility.
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