The Effect of SARS-Cov2 Infection on The Spermogram: A Prospective Study

During the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there was always concern about damageto different organs of the body. In this study, we aimed to determine if coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) could influencethe sperm parameters in inpatient adult men with COVID-19. In this prospective study during 2021, 22 patients with COVID-19 diagnosed with polymerasechain reaction (PCR) test and clinical symptoms and history of admission and 19 volunteer healthy menas the control group participated. They were asked to provide semen samples at 2 and 6 months after hospital dischargeand the same time for the control group. The following parameters were measured in all semen samples andbeside the demographic data, they compared between the two groups: volume (mL), sperm concentration (106/mL),total motile sperm percentage, progressive percentage, normal morphology percentage, and DNA fragmentationindex (DFI). The mean ± SD age of the participants in the COVID and control groups was 46.36 ± 9.94 and 45.84 ±10.21 years, respectively (P=0.869). The mean ± SD body mass index (BMIs) of the participants in the COVID andcontrol groups were 28.6 ± 5.460 and 29.6 ± 6.092, respectively (P=0.579). The mean ± SD number of children was1.41 ± 1.054 in the COVID group and 1.47 ± 1.073 in the control group (P=0.847). All the sperm parameters weresignificantly impaired after 2 months in the COVID group in comparison with the control group (P<0.05). After 4months from first sampling, all the parameters were improved significantly (except normal morphology) but had notyet reached the level of the control group. SARS-CoV-2 affected semen parameters in patients admitted because of COVID-19, in the short term. Itis expected that this will improve with time.