Evaluation of semen DNA integrity and related parameters with COVID-19 infection: a prospective cohort study

Table 1 Comparison of semen parameters between COVID-19 positive and negative groups

Variable	Positive (n = 78)	Negative (n = 54)	t/z	P-value
Age (year)	30.81 ± 5.71	30.85 ± 4.58	0.04	0.966
Sexual abstinence (day)	4.41 ± 1.83	4.59 ± 1.67	− 0.54	0.585
Volume (ml)	3.38 ± 1.73	3.01 ± 1.46	− 1.19	0.232
Total sperm count (× 10⁶ per ejaculate)	88.16 ± 63.51	102.83 ± 73.86	− 1.15	0.252
Concentration (× 10⁶ ml⁻¹)	28.62 ± 21.74	37.48 ± 31.01	− 2.03	0.042
Progressive motility (%)	32.17 ± 15.09	36.75 ± 12.41	2.26	0.027
Non-progressive motility (%)	6.04 ± 3.94	7.72 ± 5.79	−1.83	0.067
Motility (%)	38.58 ± 17.01	44.53 ± 14.87	−2.08	0.037
DNA fragmentation index (DFI, %)	21.97 ± 13.35	13.01 ± 7.87	− 4.68	< 0.001
High DNA stainability (HDS,%)	18.27 ± 7.40	15.56 ± 6.40	− 1.52	0.129

Bold values indicate statistically significant differences in the parameters compared between the two groups (p < 0.05). The sperm concentration (× 10⁶ ml⁻¹), motility (%), and progressive motility (%) of the positive group were significantly lower than those of the negative group. In terms of the DNA fragmentation index (DFI, %), the positive group was remarkably higher than the negative group

ISSN: 1743-422X