COVID-19 associates with semen inflammation and sperm quality impairment that reverses in short term after disease recovery

VIRGINIA RIVERO

Frontiers in Physiology

Frontiers Media S.A

Año: 2023

1664-042X

ntroduction: COVID-19 exerts deleterious effects on the respiratory,cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems, causing moresevere disease in men than in women. However, cumulative reported dataabout the putative consequences on the male reproductive tract and fertilityare controversial. Furthermore, the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection arestill uncertain.Methods: In this study, we prospectively evaluated levels of inflammatorycytokines and leukocytes in semen and sperm quality parameters in a cohortof 231 reproductive-aged male patients, unvaccinated, who had recovered frommild or severe COVID-19 and in 62 healthy control individuals. Sperm quality wasassessed early (less than 3 months) and long (more than 3 and up to 6 months)after having COVID-19. Interestingly, and unlike most reported studies, availableextensive background and baseline data on patients? sperm quality allowedperforming a more accurate analysis of COVID-19 effects on sperm quality.Result