FRIDAY, Jan. 15, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- After publication of the 2012 guidelines defining vasectomy success as either azoospermia or rare nonmotile sperm, men undergoing vasectomy had a lower risk for requiring any repeat postvasectomy semen analysis, according to a study published online Jan. 12 in Urology Practice.
Tony Chen, M.D., from the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues characterized nationwide practice patterns surrounding vasectomy follow-up before and after publication of the American Urological Association Vasectomy Guidelines in 2012. Men aged 18 to 64 years undergoing vasectomy between 2007 and 2015 with at least 12 months of follow-up were identified. The likelihood of men obtaining multiple postvasectomy semen analyses before versus after guideline release was compared.
The researchers identified 87,201 patients who underwent vasectomy between 2007 and 2015 and had at least one postvasectomy semen analysis claim. Compared with men in the preguideline cohort (2007 to 2012), the authors found that men who underwent vasectomy in the postguideline period (2013 to 2015) had a lower risk for requiring any repeat postvasectomy semen analysis and were less likely to have had three or more postvasectomy semen analyses (odds ratios, 0.68 and 0.82, respectively). Men who submitted multiple analyses had shorter mean time to first postvasectomy semen analysis.
"Although we can't prove that the reduction in repeat post-vasectomy semen analyses resulted directly from the new guidelines, the results are strongly suggestive that they had an impact," Chen said in a statement.
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