ABSTRACT
Sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) is implicated in male infertility and adverse reproductive outcomes. With the publication of many studies regarding the etiologies and contributors to SDF, as well as the effects of SDF, guidelines are necessary to aid clinicians in the application of SDF for male fertility evaluation. Two recent clinical practice guidelines were published by Agarwal et al and Esteves et al. In this article, we have evaluated and compared both guidelines. We have found fairly similar recommendations between the two guidelines and have also highlighted the differences between them. Finally, we have summarized and combined the best practice recommendations from both guidelines.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To prospectively validate the chronic orchialgia symptom index (COSI), a newly created instrument with 12 questions in 3 domains (pain, sexual symptoms and quality of life). METHODS: The COSI was given to 170 men with chronic orchialgia at 2 institutions. Seventy-eight men repeated the COSI before therapy and 42 repeated it after surgical therapy. Data was analyzed for test/retest internal reliability, internal consistency, floor and ceiling effects, construct validity, responsiveness and linear regression of all questions including age, duration, and prior surgeries. RESULTS: The 170 men had a mean age of 44.3 (range 18-82) and median symptom duration of 24 months (3-420). About 22.4% had prior vasectomy, 12.4% had hernia repair, and 12.9% had other prior surgery. Mean total COSI was 20.0±7.7 (range 1-37) with subscores of pain 9.1±3.5 (0-17), sexual symptoms 1.82±1.5 (0-5) and quality of life 9.0±4.0 (0-15). Test/retest reliability was high with mean retest total score of 21.2±7.9 and intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.82. Internal consistency by Cronbach's alpha was 0.86. There were no floor or ceiling effects for total score. Construct validity showed all items contributed to a good fit model (P = .001). Patient age, duration, and prior surgeries did not influence COSI. Finally, the COSI was responsive to improvement after therapy (mean after treatment 13.5±9.8, P = .00001). CONCLUSION: COSI is a valid and clinically relevant symptom index to assess severity of orchialgia symptoms and response to therapy in this challenging patient population.
