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Genital mycoplasma infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Cheng C, Chen X, Song Y, Wang S, Pan Y, Niu S, Wang R, Liu L et al.

Reproductive health, 2023

19 citations

Abstract

Background: Recent studies have suggested that genital mycoplasma infections may be associated with male infertility. However, this association remains controversial due to time lapse, sample size, and regional prevalence.

Objectives: This study aimed to systematically evaluate the relationship between genital mycoplasma and male infertility through a meta-analysis and to provide a basis for the clinical management of male infertility.

Methods: We conducted a search on PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and CNKI databases, from January 2000 to June 2023 to identify case-control studies on the interrelationship between genital mycoplasma infection and male infertility. Two independent researchers performed an assessment of the methodological quality of trials according to the Newcastle-Ottawa scale and extracted data strictly based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and afterward, we carried out a meta-analysis using Stata 16.0. Pooled odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to assess this relationship.

Results: This meta-analysis included 21 studies from seven countries with a total of 53025 infertility cases and 6435 controls; the age range of the participating men was from 20 to 59 years old. The results obtained showed a higher prevalence of M. genitalium, M. hominis and U. urealyticum infections in infertile men than in the controls, with the opposite result for U. parvum (M. genitalium, OR, 3.438 [95% CI: 1.780, 6.643], with P = 0.000; M.…

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