INTRODUCTION: Male factor infertility is a relatively common problem. This diagnosis may increase sexual, marital, and relationship strain in male partners of infertile couples. AIM: To measure the personal, social, sexual, and marital impacts of a male factor infertility diagnosis among men in couples evaluated for infertility. METHODS: Cross-sectional analysis of 357 men in infertile couples from eight academic and community-based fertility clinics. Participants completed written surveys and face-to-face and telephone interviews at study enrollment. This interview queried each participant's perception of their infertility etiology to determine the primary study exposure (i.e., male factor only, male and female factors, female factor only, unknown). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Personal Impact, Social Impact, Marital Impact, and Sexual Impact scales. RESULTS: Among the 357 men, no male factor was reported in 47%, isolated male factor was present in 12%, combined male and female factors were present in 16%, and unexplained infertility was present in 25% of couples. Male factor infertility was independently associated with worse Sexual (mean 39 vs. 30, standard deviation [SD] 2.7, P = 0.004) and Personal (mean 37 vs. 29, SD 3.8, P = 0.04) Impact scores relative to men in couples without male factor infertility. These differences remained statistically significant after controlling for male age, partner age, race, religion, educational level, employment status, prior pregnancy, duration of infertility, and prior paternity. CONCLUSIONS: Male partners in couples who perceive isolated male factor infertility have a lower sexual and personal quality of life compared with male partners of couples without perceived male factor infertility. Social strain is highest among couples without a clear etiology for infertility. These findings highlight the clinically significant negative sexual, personal, and social strains of a perceived infertility diagnosis for men.
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机译：简介：男性因素不育是一个相对普遍的问题。这种诊断可能会增加不育夫妇的男性伴侣的性，婚姻和关系压力。目的：测量男性不育症诊断对夫妇的不育对个人，社会，性和婚姻的影响。方法：从八家学术和社区生育诊所对不育夫妇中的357名男性进行横断面分析。参加研究时，参与者完成了书面调查以及面对面和电话采访。这次访谈询问了每个参与者对他们的不孕病因的看法，以确定主要的研究对象（即仅男性因素，男性和女性因素，仅女性因素，未知）。主要观察指标：个人影响力，社会影响力，婚姻影响力和性影响量表。结果：357例男性中，男性占47％，男性占12％，男性和女性占16％，不明原因的不育症占25％。男性因素不育与性别（男性39 vs. 30，标准差[SD] 2.7，P = 0.004）和个人（男性37 vs. 29，SD 3.8，P = 0.04）较差的独立影响相关。没有男性因素的不育。在控制了男性年龄，伴侣年龄，种族，宗教，教育程度，就业状况，以前的怀孕，不育的持续时间和以前的亲子关系之后，这些差异在统计学上仍然显着。结论：与未发现男性因素不育的夫妻相比，感知到男性因素不育的夫妻的男性伴侣的性生活和个人生活质量较低。在没有明确的不育病因的夫妻中，社会压力最高。这些发现突出了男性不育症诊断的临床上显着的负面性，个人和社会压力。
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