Université de Toulouse, UPS, Groupe de Recherche en Fertilité Humaine (EA 3694, Human Fertility Research Group), TSA 70034, 31059 Toulouse Cedex 9, France.
Hum Reprod. 2012 Apr;27(4):1184-90. doi: 10.1093/humrep/der466. Epub 2012 Jan 23.
Most studies assessing the outcome of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) have reported live birth rates in couples by taking mainly the female factor into account. However, infertility is a couple's concern, and the majority of publications do not take into consideration the true impact of male infertility on having the desired number of children.
We carried out a follow-up study to evaluate the probability of having a child during treatments at the Toulouse Male Sterility Centre and after discontinuation from 2000 through 2008. Couples were followed for at least 4 years until discontinuation of treatment or delivery of a live infant.
We were able to contact 65% of the 1735 male partners by telephone. Of the 1131 respondents, 56% had become parents (60% if adoption is included), 28% after ART, 16% by natural pregnancy, 8% after non-ART treatment and 4% after ART in another centre. The cumulative rates of success reached 64% [95% confidence interval (CI), 60-67] for men ≤35 years and women ≤35 years after 9 years, and 31% (95% CI, 24-39) in older patients. With optimistic analysis, which assumes that patients for whom no information was available have the same chance of success in having a child as those whose reproductive outcome was known, the cumulative rate of success was 48% (95% CI, 45-50) in the 1735 couples.
More than half of couples consulting for male infertility succeeded in having a child. Male age over 35 years old appears as a key risk factor as well as the woman's age, and these findings should encourage couples to attempt parenthood earlier.
大多数评估辅助生殖技术（ART）结果的研究主要考虑女性因素，报告了夫妇的活产率。然而，不孕不育是夫妇共同关注的问题，大多数出版物并没有考虑男性不育症对生育期望数量的真正影响。
我们进行了一项随访研究，以评估 2000 年至 2008 年期间图卢兹男性不育中心治疗期间以及停止治疗后怀孕的概率。夫妇的随访时间至少为 4 年，直到停止治疗或分娩活婴。
我们通过电话联系到了 1735 名男性伴侣中的 65%。在 1131 名应答者中，56%的人成为了父母（如果包括领养，则为 60%），28%通过 ART，16%通过自然妊娠，8%通过非 ART 治疗，4%通过另一家中心的 ART。9 年后，≤35 岁的男性和≤35 岁的女性的累积成功率达到 64%[95%置信区间（CI），60-67]，年龄较大的患者为 31%（95%CI，24-39）。如果采用乐观分析，即假设无法获取信息的患者与已知生育结果的患者有相同的生育机会，那么 1735 对夫妇的累积成功率为 48%（95%CI，45-50）。
超过一半的咨询男性不育症的夫妇成功地生育了孩子。男性年龄超过 35 岁以及女性年龄也是关键的风险因素，这些发现应该鼓励夫妇更早尝试生育。
