Hormonal, clinical, and genetic profile of infertile patients with azoospermia in Morocco

Abstract

Introduction: azoospermia affects more than 10%-15% of infertile male subjects attending the infertility center. In Morocco, there have been no studies on male infertility with azoospermia. Thereby, our objective was to evaluate the clinical, hormonal, and genetic characteristics of infertile men with azoospermia in Morocco.

Methods: we conducted a retrospective descriptive study performed with a convenience sample of 80 infertile men from 2021 to 2022, in the Assisted Reproductive Technology Unit of the Mohammed VI University Hospital Center in Oujda-Morocco. All patients with azoospermia were subjected to a quantitative hormone assay to evaluate the functionality of the sertolic and leydigial compartments. Human karyotyping and AZF microdeletion analysis are routinely performed in azoospermic patients.

Results: the results show that the mean age of patients in the study was 45.7 ± 3.5 years. Primary infertility accounts for the majority, with a rate of 96% (n=77). There were 12 cases of azoospermia of secretory origin, 22 cases of excretory origin, and 3 of undetermined origin. Azoospermia was associated with hydrocele in 29% (n=27) of cases. The average levels of FSH, LH, testosterone, and inhibin B were 15.54 ± 5.5 mIU/mL, 7.71 ± 2.7 mIU/mL, 405.09 ± 6.13 ng/dl and 38.44 ± 5.13 pg/ml, respectively. The prevalence of chromosomal abnormalities was 30.7%. Of these, the sex chromosome aneuploidy with 47, XXY karyotype (Klinefelter syndrome) accounted for 11% (n=9). The incidence of microdeletions of azoospermia factors (AZF) was 9%, and AZFc deletion was the most common at the rate of 3%.

Conclusion: our research shows that hydrocele, varicocele, and chromosomal abnormalities are the leading causes of azoospermia. In the Moroccan population, azoospermia is essentially of excretory origin.