Table 3. Comparison with previous meta-analyses.
| Study (publication year) | No. of studies/patients (total) | Study designs included in SRMA | The measure of sperm DNA damage | Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present study | 29/1,523 | Prospective and retrospective and unspecified | SCSA, SCD, TUNEL, and others | Varicocele repair reduces sperm DNA damage and MDA levels. |
| 6/268a | 8OHDG: Didn’t qualify for meta-analysis | |||
| Comet: Didn’t qualify for meta-analysis | ||||
| Lira Neto et al (2021) [76] | 19/1,070 | Prospective and retrospective | SCSA, TUNEL, SCD, Comet | Varicocele repair reduces sperm DNA damage. |
| Birowo et al (2020) [75] | 7/289 | Prospective | SCSA, TUNEL | Varicocele repair reduces sperm DNA damage. |
| Qiu et al (2021) [73] | 11/394 | Prospective | SCSA, TUNEL, SCD, Comet, AOT | Varicocele repair reduces sperm DNA damage. |
| Wang et al (2012) [74] | 6/177 | Prospective, retrospective, and unspecified | SCSA, TUNEL, Comet | Varicocele repair reduces sperm DNA damage. |
| Baazeem et al (2011) [72] | 3/84 | Prospective | SCSA | Varicocele repair reduces sperm DNA damage. |
SRMA: systematic review and meta-analysis, SCSA: sperm chromatin structure assay, SCD: sperm chromatin dispersion, TUNEL: terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate-nick end labeling, 8OHDG: 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine, AOT: acridine orange test.
aThis number represents MDA studies only.