JBRA Assist. Reprod. 2025;29(Suppl 1):42-42
POSTER PRESENTATION
doi: 10.5935/1518-0557.20250096
1Centro de Reprodução Humana Insemine
Objective: To evaluate the effect of antidepressants, mood stabilizers and benzodiazepines on sperm parameters.
Methods: This retrospective study included semen analysis of men who attended our centre for infertility evaluation from January 2023 to March 2025. Exclusion criteria were: age ≥ 50 years, smoking habits, loss of any fraction of the sample, ejaculatory abstinence outside the window of 2-7 days, continuous use of another medication, varicocele or other conditions affecting the genital tract and azoospermia. The outcomes of this study were ejaculate volume (mL), sperm concentration (million/mL), motility (%) and morphology (%). Data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney test and results are presented as median (range), p value was considered significant if <0.05.
Results: A total of 111 patients were included in the study: 91 in the control group (no psychiatric medication) and 20 in the study group (use of antidepressants, mood stabilizers or benzodiazepines). Semen volume was similar between both groups [2.8 mL (0.4-9.1) vs 2.8 mL (1.1-8.2), p = 0.450], as well as sperm concentration [30 million/mL (0.6-250) vs 24 million/mL (0.7-118), p = 0.839]. There was also no significant difference in total motility [64% (8-98) vs 50% (14-92), p = 0.441], progressive motility [37% (0-91) vs 28% (5-77), p = 0.461] and normal sperm morphology [5% (0-22) vs 4% (1-15), p = 0.400] between control and study groups, respectively.
Conclusion: Commonly used psychiatric medication, such as sertraline, escitalopram, lamotrigine and diazepam, had no impact on semen volume, sperm concentration, motility and morphology in our study population. Limitations in our study include possible self-medication and self-reported usage.