A new accessible blood test that can predict male infertility could soon be available for use in GP practices, researchers say.
Published in the journal Scientific Reports, the research looked at data from nearly 4,000 men who underwent semen and hormone testing for male infertility from 2011-20.
An AI model was developed from this that researchers said could predict male infertility risk with about 74% accuracy. It works by measuring different hormone levels in a blood sample, which are associated with sperm production.
The researchers said the model could predict a severe form of infertility known as non-obstructive azoospermia – where there is no sperm in the semen – with 100% accuracy.
The team believe their AI-enhanced blood test could make screening for male infertility more accessible as it can be used in GP surgeries without the need for special laboratories.
Hideyuki Kobayashi, an associate professor in the department of urology at Toho University school of medicine in Japan, who led the development of the AI model, said this method was intended only as a first screening step to identify infertility and was “not a replacement for semen testing”.
He added: “In the future, we hope that clinical laboratories and health check-up centres will use our AI prediction model to screen for male infertility, thereby making testing for male infertility more accessible by overcoming hurdles to it.”
According to the World Health Organization, worldwide about 7% of men are affected by infertility with about half of fertility problems in a heterosexual couple coming from the man.
Allan Pacey, a professor of andrology at the University of Manchester, said the method could help to streamline the process of detecting male infertility.
He said: “One of the first steps in diagnosing male infertility is the analysis of a sample of semen in a specialist laboratory. This will involve time off work and another appointment, sometimes at a specialist laboratory some distance away. Therefore, the idea that a first-stage diagnosis could be done from a blood sample taken by the GP does offer some advantages.”
He added: “The authors of this paper have done a great job in applying artificial intelligence to the problem, but their approach would have to be simplified into some kind of app that GPs could use for it to have real-world benefit.
“Clearly, the male would have to provide a semen sample for analysis, eventually, but this approach, if confirmed in a larger dataset, could help streamline the process and make it a bit more user-friendly.”