Male and Female Infertility

According to WHO, infertility is a disease of the male or female reproductive system defined by the failure to achieve a pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse.

Infertility affects millions of people of reproductive age worldwide – and has an impact on their families and communities. Estimates suggest that between 48 million couples and 186 million individuals live with infertility globally. (2, 3, 4)

In the male reproductive system, infertility is most commonly caused by problems in the ejection of semen (1), absence or low levels of sperm, or abnormal shape (morphology) and movement (motility) of the sperm. In the female reproductive system, infertility may be caused by a range of abnormalities of the ovaries, uterus, fallopian tubes, and the endocrine system, among others. Infertility can be primary or secondary. Primary infertility is when a pregnancy has never been achieved by a person, and secondary infertility is when at least one prior pregnancy has been achieved..

Q10

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Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10)—an essential cofactor for energy production with major antioxidant properties—is commonly used to support spermatogenesis in idiopathic male infertility. This systematic review aims to elucidate the usefulness of CoQ10 supplementation in the treatment of male infertility, particularly with regard to semen quality assessed by conventional and advanced methods, and pregnancy rates. All studies report a beneficial effect of CoQ10 supplementation on semen parameters, although randomized controlled trials are a minority. Moreover, the optimal dosage of CoQ10 or how it can be combined with other antioxidant molecules to maximize its effect is unknown. However, CoQ10 is still one of the most promising molecules to treat idiopathic male infertility.

Antioxidants (Basel). 2021 Jun; 10(6): 874. Published online 2021 May 30. doi: 10.3390/antiox10060874

Management of women with reduced ovarian reserve or poor ovarian response (POR) to stimulation is one of the major challenges in reproductive medicine. This prospective, randomized controlled study included 186 consecutive patients with POR stratified according to the POSEIDON classification group 3 (age < 35, poor ovarian reserve parameters). The participants were randomized to the CoQ10 pre-treatment for 60 days preceding IVF-ICSI cycle or no pre-treatment. The number of high quality embryos was a primary outcome measure. CoQ10 pretreatment resulted in significantly lower gonadotrophin requirements and higher peak E2 levels. Women in CoQ10 group had increased number of retrieved oocytes (4, IQR 2–5), higher fertilization rate (67.49%) and more high-quality embryos (1, IQR 0–2); p < 0.05. Significantly less women treated with CoQ10 had cancelled embryo transfer because of poor embryo development than controls (8.33% vs. 22.89%, p = 0.04) and more women from treatment group had available cryopreserved embryos (18.42% vs. 4.3%, p = 0.012). The clinical pregnancy and live birth rates per embryo transfer and per one complete stimulation cycle tended to be higher in CoQ10 group. Pretreatment with CoQ10 improves ovarian response to stimulation and embryological parameters in young women with poor ovarian reserve in IVF-ICSI cycles.

Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2018; 16: 29. Published online 2018 Mar 27. doi: 10.1186/s12958-018-0343-0

** All data above are published as clinical trials and do not refer to EFSA claims. This means that they do not intend to be medical or therapeutical advice.