Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Mar;9(2):478-502.
doi: 10.1111/andr.12948. Epub 2020 Dec 11.

Seminal human papillomavirus infection and reproduction: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Jose Moreno-Sepulveda  1   2 , Osvaldo Rajmil  3   4
Affiliations
Free article
Meta-Analysis

Seminal human papillomavirus infection and reproduction: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Jose Moreno-Sepulveda et al. Andrology. 2021 Mar.
Free article

Abstract

Background: The impact of human papillomavirus (HPV) on male fertility and associated reproductive outcomes has not been clarified.

Objectives: To elucidate the prevalence of seminal HPV infection and assess the associated effects on seminal parameters, male infertility, and reproductive outcomes.

Materials and methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. A search was performed using PubMed, MEDLINE, SCOPUS, and Cochrane databases. Studies published until November 2019 were included. HPV prevalence, risk of infertility, seminal parameters, and reproductive outcomes were evaluated among the general population and infertile men.

Results: Fifty studies met the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of seminal HPV infection is significantly higher in infertile compared to the general population (20.9% versus 8.2%). A significant association between seminal HPV infection and male infertility (OR 3.30, 95% CI 1.87-5.84), even when adjusting for female infertility (OR 3.02, 95% CI = 2.11-4.33) was founded. In addition, HPV infection is related to a significant decrease in progressive motility (DM -10.35, IC -13.75, -6.96), a low sperm morphology score (DM -2.46, 95% CI -3.83, -1.08), and a significant increase in the sperm DNA fragmentation index (7.24, 95% CI 4.44.10.03) compared with HPV-negative patients. It was also observed an increased risk of miscarriage (OR 5.13, 95% CI 2.40,10.94), and a reduced chance of ongoing pregnancy (OR 0.33, IC 95% 0.13,0,82) in patients undergoing ART with seminal HPV infection.

Discussion: Infertile men have a higher prevalence of seminal HPV infection compared to the general population, regardless of the HPV genotype detected.

Conclusions: HPV in semen may have an impact in sperm quality and reproductive outcomes. Additional well-designed studies are warranted to improve the quality of evidence.

Keywords: human papillomavirus; male infertility; semen infection; semen parameters; sperm DNA fragmentation; sperm analysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Bernard H-U, Burk RD, Chen Z, van Doorslaer K, Hausen HZ, de Villiers E-M. Classification of papillomaviruses (PVs) based on 189 PV types and proposal of taxonomic amendments. Virology. 2010;401:70-79.
    1. Schiffman M, Doorbar J, Wentzensen N, et al. Carcinogenic human papillomavirus infection. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2016;2:16086.
    1. Guan P, Howell-Jones R, Li N, et al. Human papillomavirus types in 115,789 HPV-positive women: a meta-analysis from cervical infection to cancer. Int J Cancer. 2012;131:2349-2359.
    1. Plummer M, de Martel C, Vignat J, Ferlay J, Bray F, Franceschi S. Global burden of cancers attributable to infections in 2012: a synthetic analysis. Lancet Glob Health. 2016;4:e609-e616.
    1. Capra G, Nyitray AG, Lu B, et al. Analysis of persistence of human papillomavirus infection in men evaluated by sampling multiple genital sites. Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci. 2015;19:4153-4163.

LinkOut - more resources