{"id":39518,"date":"2025-06-23T12:58:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T10:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/the-male-factor-represents-35-of-primary-infertility-cases\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T15:27:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T13:27:29","slug":"the-male-factor-represents-35-of-primary-infertility-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/the-male-factor-represents-35-of-primary-infertility-cases\/","title":{"rendered":"The male factor represents 35% of primary infertility cases"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When we talk about\u00a0<strong>primary infertility<\/strong>\u00a0we are referring to couples who have not been able to conceive after a year of having sexual intercourse without using birth control methods. This period of time, in fact, is shorter for women over 37 years of age ( six months)<\/p>\n<p>In this regard, the\u00a0<strong>male factor<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>represents 35% of the causes of primary infertility<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the above, we can say that<strong>\u00a0male factor infertility<\/strong>\u00a0also contributes to\u00a0<strong>30% of mixed\u2011cause cases<\/strong>. This refers to cases in which male and female\u2011factor infertility are associated with one another. Finally, the remaining 35% of primary infertility cases are due to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/female-infertility-conditions-and-diseases-that-can-cause-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">female infertility factors<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>These percentages are the findings of a study we carried out at the Centro Gutenberg Reproduction Unit\u00a0<strong>by analysing data from 2014<\/strong>\u00a0to the present.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Tabla de contenidos<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #3f3f3f;color:#3f3f3f\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #3f3f3f;color:#3f3f3f\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/the-male-factor-represents-35-of-primary-infertility-cases\/#Study_on_male_factor_infertility\" >Study on male factor infertility<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/the-male-factor-represents-35-of-primary-infertility-cases\/#Decline_in_sperm_quality\" >Decline in sperm quality<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/the-male-factor-represents-35-of-primary-infertility-cases\/#Male_infertility_at_Spain\" >Male infertility at Spain<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Study_on_male_factor_infertility\"><\/span>Study on male factor infertility<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The study we carried out at URE analysed the clinical results obtained using the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/in-vitro-fertilisation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in vitro fertilisation with sperm microinjection (ICSI)<\/a>\u00a0technique. This technique was used in couples with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/male-infertility-common-illnesses-that-can-cause-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">male factor infertility<\/a>\u00a0and in couples with mixed\u2011cause infertility, in women under the age of 40. We came to the conclusion that couples have a\u00a0<strong>very good prognosis<\/strong>\u00a0when the male factor is the sole cause of their infertility.<\/p>\n<p>In this regard,\u00a0 we were able to achieve a<strong>\u00a0pregnancy for 7.6 out of every 10 couples<\/strong>\u00a0who underwent ICSI treatment due to male factor infertility. In cases where the female also contributed to the couple\u2019s infertility, the success rate with ICSI decreased, though it remained favourable: 5.5 out of every 10 couples achieved a pregnancy.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Decline_in_sperm_quality\"><\/span>Decline in sperm quality<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>It is estimated that\u00a0<strong>75% of males\u00a0who go to assisted reproduction clinics\u00a0will have an abnormal\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/how-to-interpret-a-sperm-analysis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sperm analysis<\/a><\/strong>. This percentage clearly differs from the numbers we observed twenty years ago, so much so that the World Health Organization needed to set new fertility parameters in terms of establishing assessment criteria.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The decline in sperm quality in 40% of the cases of unexplained infertility<\/strong>\u00a0could be attributed to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/habits-help-boost-male-fertility\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lifestyle and environmental factors<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-3756 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/fertilityclinicspain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Male-infertility.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/fertilityclinicspain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Male-infertility.jpg 600w, https:\/\/fertilityclinicspain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Male-infertility-300x205.jpg 300w\" alt=\"Male infertility\" width=\"600\" height=\"410\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The deterioration of sperm quality, together with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/how-a-females-age-impacts-her-fertility-and-chances-of-becoming-a-mother\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">delay in the age at which women begin trying to conceive<\/a>\u00a0their first child, are the main causes of the alarming increase in infertility rates.\u00a0<strong>The age of the male,\u00a0<\/strong>until very recently, was not taken into account, but it seems as though\u00a0<strong>it can also have a negative impact on conception<\/strong>. Pregnancy rates specifically start to decrease after a male turns 45.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Male_infertility_at_Spain\"><\/span>Male infertility at Spain<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>According to data from the National Statistics Institute, Spain has<strong>\u00a0one of the world\u2019s lowest birth rates\u00a0<\/strong>(1.3 children per woman), females who become first\u2011time mothers, on average, at 32.1 years of age (later than the average age worldwide), and is a country where practically 11% of child are born to women over the age of 40.<\/p>\n<p>At present, it is estimated that\u00a0<strong>one in every five couples will require assisted reproduction\u00a0<\/strong>in order to have children. In spite of the fact that it has always been believed that females were the main reason for a couple\u2019s infertility, data published over the last few decades has shown that the male factor has also been having an increasing impact on fertility issues as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When we talk about\u00a0primary infertility\u00a0we are referring to couples who have not been able to conceive after a year of having sexual intercourse without using birth control methods. This period of time, in fact, is shorter for women over 37 years of age ( six months) In this regard, the\u00a0male factor\u00a0represents 35% of the causes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[497,500,501],"tags":[559,538,528,511,512,504,529,550,542,517,519,531,518,507,508,540,502,520,513,567,503,541,514,509,510,598,599,506,535,515,558,560,563,564,557,516,505],"class_list":["post-39518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fertility-problems","category-laboratory-stuff","category-lifestyle-and-fertility-en","tag-age","tag-artificial-insemination","tag-assisted-reproduction","tag-assisted-reproduction-clinic-in-algeciras","tag-assisted-reproduction-clinic-in-malaga","tag-assisted-reproduction-techniques","tag-causes-of-infertility","tag-centro-gutenberg-malaga-en","tag-clinic-gutenberg-en","tag-family","tag-female-fertility","tag-fertility","tag-fertility-clinic","tag-fertility-clinic-in-algeciras","tag-fertility-clinic-in-malaga","tag-fertility-preservation","tag-fertility-treatments","tag-fertility-treatments-in-algeciras","tag-fertility-treatments-in-malaga","tag-gutenberg-malaga-en","tag-in-vitro-fertilisation","tag-infertility","tag-ivf","tag-ivf-clinic-in-algeciras","tag-ivf-clinic-in-malaga","tag-male-factor","tag-male-infertility","tag-pregnancy","tag-reproduction-unit-gutenberg-centre","tag-reproductive-treatments","tag-semen-en","tag-seminogram","tag-sperm-selection","tag-spermatozoa","tag-sterility","tag-ure-en","tag-ure-centro-gutenberg-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39519,"href":"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39518\/revisions\/39519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urecentrogutenberg.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}