Characteristics of the seminal quality of infertile patients in the City of Quito.

Introduction: Male infertility has a complex etiology and one of the determining factors is the quality of the semen. The evaluation of this factor is carried out using a spermogram; where the two components of semen are analyzed: the sperm; in number, mobility and morphology, as well as the seminal fluid produced by the accessory glands in charge of nourishing the sperm and interacting with the female genital tract. Objective: To determine the characteristics of the semen, the most frequent alterations and the age effect on the seminal quality of patients who come to an infertility consultation in an assisted reproduction center in the city of Quito.   Material and Methods: An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study of 55 spermograms from patients with infertility problems from the “Instituto Quiteño de Infertilidad” was carried out. Results: 47.27% of the spermogram presented normozoospermia. Within the alterations, asthenozoospermia was 25.45% and teratozoospermia was 23.63%. The values ​​of the sperm quality parameters and the number of alterations showed an age-related trend; we found that the highest number of affected patients with alterations in the number of sperm corresponds to those over 40 years. Discussion: In our study, we have evidenced a high percentage of patients with at least one seminal alteration, especially in older patients, which indicates the importance of considering the age of males when evaluating infertile couples.