P800 - MEASUREMENT OF SERUM ZINC LEVELS FOLLOWING USE OF ORAL MEDICATIONS AND SUPPLEMENTS ON SEMEN CHARACTERISTICS IN MALE INFERTILITY PATIENTS.

P800

MEASUREMENT OF SERUM ZINC LEVELS FOLLOWING USE OF ORAL MEDICATIONS AND SUPPLEMENTS ON SEMEN CHARACTERISTICS IN MALE INFERTILITY PATIENTS.

H. Hibi^1,2,*, M. Tokoro^2,3, S. Takizawa^2,3, Y. Asada^2,3

¹Division of Male Reproduction, Kyoritsu General Hospital, ²Asada Ladies Clinic, ³Asada Institute for Reproductive Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

Rationale: Many male infertility patients take empiric oral medications and/or zinc supplements. To evaluate their impact, zinc concentrations (Zc) were assessed and the relationship to semen findings and infertility treatment and outcome were examined.

Methods: From 4683 subjects who visited our male infertility unit between August 2020 to June 2024, 4,064 were eligible, excluding those who were single, had not undergone semen analysis, and those taking both medication and supplements.

Results: Median serum Zc was 85.5 (75, 94) μg/dL. 1091 participants (26.8%) were taking medications or supplements. Although differences in Zc were observed depending on the time of blood retrieval, no correlation was found between Zc and sperm count or motility. There was also no significant difference in Zc between each different infertility diagnoses or between groups not taking oral medication and those taking other prescribed medications, herbal medicines, or zinc containing supplements. As expected, the pregnancy rate was higher in those with normal semen findings, and no correlation was found between pregnancy and serum Zc.

Conclusion: Zinc is considered as a very important trace element its deficiency may cause infertility even in a physically unimpaired subject without any symptoms. We previously reported that although there was no correlation between serum Zc and sperm concentration or motility, Zc were significantly lower in azoospermic patients compared with normal semen findings. However, this large cross-sectional study did not find any correlation between serum Zc and sperm parameters. Furthermore, no significant differences in Zc or pregnancy rates were observed with the intake of various oral medications or supplements. Taking zinc-containing supplements seems to not result in high serum zinc levels or affect pregnancy outcomes.

References: Hibi H, et al. doi: 10.18999/nagjms. 84.4.839

Disclosure of Interest: None declared