Relationship between male infertility caused by varicocele and body constitution in TCM

Objective To explore the distribution rule of TCM constitution identification in patients with varicocele infertility, and analyze the correlation between the parameters of related semen and TCM constitution. Methods Total 146 patients meeting the inclusion criteria of male infertility caused by varicocele, aged 20 to 45 years, from the andrology clinic in Ningbo Hospital of TCM from September 2016 until November 2017 were enrolled into study. The general information, semen analysis and body constitution in TCM were collected by "Questionnaire of Clinical Symptoms of Male Infertility Caused by Varicocele" and "Scale for Body Constitution in TCM", and their relationships were analyzed by using statistical methods. Results ①Among the 146 cases, qi-stagnation constitution accounted for 17.59%, qi-deficiency constitution for 16.67%, blood-stasis constitution for 11.57%, yin-deficiency constitution for 11.34%, yang-deficiency constitution for 10.88%, phlegm-dampness constitution for 9.72%, damp-heat constitution for 9.49%, gentleness constitution for 7.87%, and special-innateness constitution for 4.86%. ②There was statistically difference in the sperm concentration between qi-deficiency constitution and non qi-deficiency constitution patients and between yin-deficiency constitution and non yin-deficiency constitution patients by using the nonparametric rank sum test or t-test for independent samples (all P<0.05). However, there is no statistical significance between the main TCM constitution and the rate of forward moving sperm and normal morphological sperm (all P>0.05). Conclusion Varicocele infertility is related to TCM constitution.The sperm concentration is respectively correlated with qi-stagnation constitution and yin-deficiency constitution, and the total sperm motility is correlated with qi-deficiency constitution.