Table 3.

Analysis of correlations between all analysed parameters in Control and Patient groups.

		Control Group (C)	Sperm Chromatin Integrity [%]		Unfractionated Total Sperm Population			Properly Protaminated Subpopulation			Semen Parameters
Patients’ Group (P)			Protaminated	Fragmented DNA	Glo-bal 5mC	Glo-bal 5hmC	5mC/5hmC Ratio	Mean 5mC	Mean 5hmC	5mC/5hmC Ratio	Concen-tration [×106/mL]	Volume [mL]	Total Count [×106]	Morphology [%]	Motility [%]
															Progres-sive	Total
Sperm Chromatin Integrity [%]		Protaminated		ns	**	*	*	**	**	ns	ns	ns	*	ns	ns	ns
		Fragmented DNA	ns		ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns
Unfractionated Total Sperm Population		Global 5mC	ns	ns		**	***	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	#ns	ns	ns	ns
		Global 5hmC	ns	ns	***		ns	**	ns	*	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns
		5mC/5hmC Ratio	ns	ns	***	**		ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns
Properly Protaminated Subpopulation		Mean 5mC	ns	ns	***	***	***		#ns	*	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	#ns
		Mean 5hmC	ns	ns	***	***	**	***		ns	#ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns
		5mC/5hmC Ratio	ns	ns	***	**	***	***	*		ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	#ns
Semen Parameters	Concentration [×106/mL]		ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns		*	***	ns	*	*
	Volume [mL]		ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns		ns	ns	ns	ns
	Total Count [×106]		ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	***	**		ns	ns	ns
	Morphology [%]		ns	ns	*	ns	**	**	ns	**	ns	ns	#ns		*	**
	Motility [%]	Progressive	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns		**
		Total	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	***	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	***

Statistical description: *** p < 0.0001, ** 0.0001 < p < 0.01, * 0.01 < p < 0.05, ns—statistically non-significant (p > 0.05), #ns 0.05 < p < 0.06 (statistically non-significant but at the border value); grey colour—values statistically significant.