Materials and Methods
Men who presented to the urology outpatient clinic of the Medical Park Antalya Hospital Complex between March 2018 and February 2021 due to infertility were included in this study. Inclusion criteria were inability to achieve pregnancy for more than 12 months despite regular unprotected sexual intercourse2 and presenting to our clinic with this complaint for the first time. Patients who presented for follow-up and those with previous infertility treatment were excluded from the study.
After a detailed history-taking and physical examination, semen samples obtained in sterile tubes by masturbation after an average of 3 to 5 days of sexual abstinence were analyzed after liquefaction at 37°C for 30 minutes. A Makler counting chamber was used to determine spermatozoa concentration and percentage of motile spermatozoa according to WHO 2010 criteria, and morphological evaluation was performed by light microscopy according to Kruger criteria after staining.7 All semen samples were evaluated by the same specialist. Patient age, semen volume, and spermogram results were recorded. The patients were divided by presentation date into pre-pandemic group 1 (March 2018 - February 2019), pre-pandemic group 2 (March 2019 - February 2020), and the pandemic group (March 2020 - February 2021). The results were compared between these groups.