% IMPORTANT: The following is UTF-8 encoded. This means that in the presence % of non-ASCII characters, it will not work with BibTeX 0.99 or older. % Instead, you should use an up-to-date BibTeX implementation like “bibtex8” or % “biber”. @ARTICLE{Szab:300122, author = {A. Szabó and S. Váncsa and P. Hegyi and T. Kói and J. Ács and R. J. Hermánné and N. Ács and T. Szarvas$^*$ and P. Nyirády and Z. Kopa}, title = {{A}ssessing the efficacy of varicocelectomy, antioxidants, {FSH} treatment, and lifestyle modifications on sperm {DNA} fragmentation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.}, journal = {Scientific reports}, volume = {15}, number = {1}, issn = {2045-2322}, address = {[London]}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, reportid = {DKFZ-2025-00620}, pages = {10118}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Infertility affects $15\%$ of couples in developed countries, $50\%$ accounting for male origin. In 2021, sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) testing was incorporated into male fertility evaluations as an evidence-based functional test. We aimed to assess the effect of interventions that could potentially improve SDF. A random-effect meta-analysis was performed with a systematic search in three databases. Pooled mean differences (MD) with $95\%$ confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Initially, 36,531 articles were found, of which 86 papers with over 8,000 patients were included. Three months following varicocelectomy, the decrease in SDF was $-6.74\%$ (CI: -9.40, -4.08) compared to preoperative data of patients, whereas it was $-12.39\%$ (CI: -22.41, -2.36) after six months and $-10.06\%$ (CI: -22.69, + 2.56) at twelve months. A dose-dependent effect could also be observed in grade II and III varicoceles. The overall SDF decrease at three months was $-4.27\%$ (CI: -6.11, -2.43) for antioxidants, $-4.51\%$ (CI: -6.81, -2.20) for combined antioxidant therapy and $-3.36\%$ (CI: -4.44, -2.28) for monotherapy. In terms of follicle-stimulating hormone treatment (FSH) at three months, the change in SDF was $-6.66\%$ (CI: -9.64, -3.69). For lifestyle modifications, a change of $-3.24\%$ (CI: -5.33, -1.16) was observed at three months. Other interventions are narratively summarized in the systematic review. Of the interventions reviewed, varicocelectomy is the most effective in reducing SDF at six months, FSH treatment might be useful, antioxidants appear questionable, and lifestyle interventions require more studies of similar designs to draw firm conclusions.}, keywords = {Humans / Male / Varicocele: surgery / Varicocele: therapy / DNA Fragmentation / Antioxidants: therapeutic use / Spermatozoa / Infertility, Male: therapy / Follicle Stimulating Hormone / Life Style / Treatment Outcome / DFI (Other) / DNA fragmentation index (Other) / Male fertility (Other) / Sperm quality (Other) / Subfertility (Other) / Varicocele repair (Other) / Antioxidants (NLM Chemicals) / Follicle Stimulating Hormone (NLM Chemicals)}, cin = {ED01}, ddc = {600}, cid = {I:(DE-He78)ED01-20160331}, pnm = {899 - ohne Topic (POF4-899)}, pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-899}, typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16}, pubmed = {pmid:40128318}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-025-93267-z}, url = {https://inrepo02.dkfz.de/record/300122}, }