Effects of L-carnitine Monotherapy in the Treatment of Male Infertility ：A Meta-analysis / 中国药房

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE：To systematically evaluate clinical efficacy of L-carnitine in the treatment of male infertility ，and to provide evidence-based reference for clinical treatment of male infertility. METHODS ：Retrieved from CNKI ，Wanfang database ， VIP，CBM，PubMed，Embase and the Cochrane library ，randomized controlled trials （RCTs）about L-carnitine and other chemical drugs in the treatment of male infertility were collected during the inception to Apr. 12th，2020. After data extraction of included literatures and quality evaluation with modified Jadad scale ，Meta-analysis was conducted by using RevMan 5.3 software. RESULTS：A total of 8 RCTs were included ，with 520 patients. The results of Meta-analysis showed that compared with other chemical drugs ，L-carnitine could significantly enhance the semen volume [MD＝0.55，95％CI（0.20，0.91），P＝0.002] and sperm mortality rate [MD＝1.60，95％CI（0.50，2.69），P＝0.004] of male infertility patients ，with statistical significance. There was no statistical significance in sperm count [MD＝4.00，95％ CI（－3.15，11.15），P＝0.27]，the percentage of forward motile sperm [MD＝12.58，95％CI（－3.87，29.03），P＝0.13]，and the percentage of inducing pregnancy rate [OR＝0.85，95％CI（0.47，1.52），P＝ 0.58] of male infertility patients. CONCLUSIONS ：L-carnitine can significantly improve the semen volume and sperm mortality of male infertility patients ，and has the same effects as other drugs on improving sperm count ，percentage of forward motile sperm and percentage of inducing pregnancy rate.