Vitamins combined with traditional Chinese medicine for male infertility: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract

Background Male infertility is a tough problem in medicine. This article aims to provide the latest evidence for the efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) combined with vitamins in the treatment of male infertility. Method All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that used TCM combined with vitamins for male infertility treatment were included in databases of China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, VIP Database, China Biology Medicine disc (CBM), MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library. The quality of the included articles was evaluated using the Cochrane Reviewer's Handbook 5.3, and meta‐analysis was performed using Stata 15. Results A total of 14 eligible studies with 1488 patients were included in this meta‐analysis. The results suggested that, compared with vitamin E or vitamin E + C alone, combination of TCM with vitamins increased significantly sperm concentration, sperm motility, sperm viability, liquefaction time of semen, the activity of acrosome enzyme, and the pregnancy rate of patients with male infertility. Three kinds of TCM (Shengjing capsule, Huanshao capsule, and compound Xuanju capsule) showed significant improvement for male infertility in terms of pregnancy rate, sperm concentration, or sperm motility. In addition, the results of the publication bias test demonstrated that no significant bias occurred. Conclusion Traditional Chinese medicine combined with vitamins has significant efficacy in the treatment of male infertility with no increase in side effects. The specific implementing regulations still need more long‐term, multicenter, randomized, and double‐blind clinical trials.

An Integrated Analysis of Network Pharmacology, Molecular Docking, and Experiment Validation to Explore the New Candidate Active Component and Mechanism of Cuscutae Semen-Mori Fructus Coupled-Herbs in Treating Oligoasthenozoospermia

“…18 Clinically, vitamin E is generally not used alone but often combined with other drugs, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), to improve sperm parameters. 19 Moreover, L-Carnitine treatment could not significantly improve the sperm motility or fertility in a high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity mouse model. 20 Especially for unexplained idiopathic OA, there is no effective treatment yet.…”

Effectiveness of Pharmacological Intervention Among Men with Infertility: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis

“…Inability to achieve clinical conception despite 1 year of unprotected intercourse with the same partner is categorized as human infertility by the World Health Organization (WHO) (Zhao et al, 2016;Buhling et al, 2019;Cao et al, 2019;Hosseini et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2020). A total of 15% (48.5 million) couples worldwide are affected by any kind of infertility, and male infertility dominates the trend with 70% of all cases.…”

“…A total of 15% (48.5 million) couples worldwide are affected by any kind of infertility, and male infertility dominates the trend with 70% of all cases. Higher male infertility rates are seen in the population of Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Africa (Zhao et al, 2016;Buhling et al, 2019;Cao et al, 2019;Hosseini et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2020).…”

“…Concentration, morphology, and motility are three primary endpoints to assess the sperm quality (Buhling et al, 2019). Other factors include genetics (chromosomal aberrations, gene mutations, congenital anomalies, and polymorphisms), morphology of the reproductive system (testicular cancer, aplasia of the germinal cells, alteration in reproductive hormone, varicocele, defects in the transport of sperm, and bilateral sperm ducts), addictive disorders (alcoholism, smoking, and drug addiction), environmental factors (cigarette, smoking, exposure to certain chemicals, and nutritional deficiency), and alteration in spermatogenesis due to pathophysiological conditions (infectious diseases, pregnancyrelated infections, urogenital infections, genitourinary dysplasia, immune system-related factor, abnormal levels of biochemical components of seminal plasma, and presence of antiserum antibodies (ASAs)) (Zhao et al, 2016;Buhling et al, 2019;Cao et al, 2019;Hosseini et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2020).…”

“…These factors can lead to numerous abnormalities of the reproductive system and capacity for fertilization. Moreover, infertility can have severe damaging impacts on social, psychological, and economic well-being and health of the couples (Zhao et al, 2016;Buhling et al, 2019;Cao et al, 2019;Hosseini et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2020). Hormones, selective estrogen receptor modulator, antioxidants, vitamins, and enzymes are some of the treatment protocols for male infertility these days.…”