Background: The emerging evidence of the global decline in sperm counts worldwide has intensified concerns about male infertility. This widespread interest is increasingly accentuated in sub-Saharan Africa, where women have long been blamed for couple infertility. Indeed, there is a lack of comprehensive studies and accurate statistics on rates of male infertility in Cameroon. This study aimed to investigate the trends of sperm parameters and determine the overall sperm quality of infertile men across age groups. Methods: This retrospective study analysis the semen parameters of 2608 men aged at least 21 years who consulted for couple infertility in Douala between January 2019 and August 2024. For each medical booklet or records retrieved, the variables assessed were age, ejaculate volume, sperm motility, concentration, vitality, morphology, sperm culture, and leukocytospermia. To understand the trend of semen parameters and determine the most vulnerable age group, binary logistic regression and discriminant factor analysis were performed. Results: The research findings revealed a significantly high prevalence of impaired sperm parameters, with 92.2% of Asthenozoospermia, 79.3% of Teratozoospermia, 52.7% of abnormal sperm concentration, and 32.2% of Necrozoospermia. The overall sperm quality showed a proportion of 26.4% of patients suffering from Oligoasthenoteratozoospermia. Semen cultured indicated that 10.1% of patients were tested positive to infection by pathogenic microorganisms, whereas leukocytospermia was reported in 2.3% of cases. Considering the overall sperm characteristics, results depicted that just 2.8% of patients recorded normal values for the combined sperm parameters analyzed, and that sperm quality was significantly damaged in men aged between 31 - 40 years. Binary logistic regression model revealed that sperm morphology (p = 0.000) was the major significant influential predictor of sperm motility. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed an alarming deterioration of the overall sperm quality particularly among young men, with a specific emphasis on sperm morphology and motility relationship. Further research in other localities with more diverse populations is needed to validate these findings. Also, in addition to clinical determinants, other potential risks factors such as socio-ethnological traits, lifestyle and occupational exposures, dietary habit, environmental, infectious and genetic factors that might impact male fertility should be explored.
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