Male Infertility: A Retrospective Review of Laboratory Charts at a Tertiary Teaching Hospital in Nairobi City County

Abstract

Background: Globally, approximately 50 million couples experience one form of infertility, and 10 million cases of
subfertility have been reported in sub-Saharan Africa. Infertility is characterized by a lack of clinical conception among
couples who live together for more than one year with regular coitus, without the use of contraception. Factors related
to fertility vary by sex and geographical region. These factors include age, lifestyle, infectious diseases, and genetic
disorders. In African culture, children are considered a simple inheritance and a measure of masculinity, so efforts are
needed to address the growing problem of male infertility in this context.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of male infertility among adult men seeking semen analysis services in a tertiary
teaching hospital in Nairobi, Kenya.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that involved a retrospective review of archived electronic data in the hospital
information system. These data were from male patients who visited the laboratory with a request for semen analysis
between January 2016 and December 2020. A checklist was used to extract data related to sociodemographic factors
and laboratory results (age, seminal volume, and diagnosis).
Results: The average age of the male clients seen during the review period was 36±8 years, with the majority aged
31–40 years n= 996 (46.7%). The youngest was 21 years old, and the oldest was 70 years old. The total prevalence
of seminal abnormalities was 1628 (77%) of the 2131 electronic data that was reviewed. Only 502 (23%) of the
patients had a normal seminal diagnosis. Most clients exhibited at least one form of seminal abnormalities, such as
asthenospermia 913 (43%), oligospermia 441 (21%), and azoospermia 272 (13%). There was a statistically significant
association between age and seminal abnormality (X 2 = 31.393, P=.013). A significant association was also found
between seminal volume and abnormalities (X 2 = 94.538, P=.000).
Conclusion: Our findings showed that there were some seminal abnormalities among Kenyan men in Nairobi County.
More effort is required to identify the cause of this increase in seminal abnormalities. Initiation of health interventions to
reduce this burden of infertility may be necessary