Obesity and Male Infertility

Abstract

Obesity is defined as the presence of excess amount of body fat tissue. Infertility is defined as the inability to conceive after a year of unprotected sexual intercourse and affects about 15% of the couples. Male fertility factor is a single factor in approximately 20% of infertile couples, while 30% and 40% have both male and female factors. Thus the male factor is present in approximately half of the pairs. An increase in male infertility is observed in parallel with decreasing sperm quality worldwide. The increase in obesity prevalence has led researchers to investigate the relationship between obesity and male infertility. The mechanisms by which paternal obesity affects sperm or embryo are still not fully described. It has been observed that the process of conception has been prolonged in couples with obese male partners. The aim of this review is to evaluate the relationship between male infertility and obesity.

Keywords: Infertility, obesity, male.

DOI: 10.7176/JSTR/5-4-24