The Study
Effectiveness of clomiphene citrate on total motile sperm count and hormonal profile in men with clinical infertility.
This study watched what happened to 60 guys after they took a pill for infertility, but didn't compare them to guys who didn't take the pill. So we can say the guys' sperm counts went up after taking it, but we don't know if the pill caused it—or if they just got better on their own.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
Some men with unexplained infertility take a pill called clomiphene to help their bodies make more sperm and hormones. This study looked at 60 men who took it.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 554 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1The average sperm increase might help some couples conceive naturally or avoid IVF, but for others, the pill made things worse — so it doesn't work the same for everyone.
- 2On average, sperm count went up by 13.1 million.
- 3But 4 out of 7 men who had no sperm before got some after; 4 out of 53 men who had sperm lost it.
- 4Hormones like testosterone doubled.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Canadian Urological Association journal = Journal de l'Association des urologues du Canada
Year
2026
Authors
C. Roque, Y. Ko, M. Fidel, Jainik Shah, S. Marzban, Harliv Dhillon, A. Almuhanna, A. Sarcar, Premal Patel
Related Content
Claims (6)
In men with unexplained infertility, clomiphene citrate treatment results in the same changes to sperm count and hormone levels regardless of whether they have ever fathered a child before.
In men with unexplained infertility, taking clomiphene citrate every other day at a dose of 25–50 mg for about 13 months is linked to an increase in the number of moving sperm and higher levels of several reproductive hormones in the blood.
In men with unexplained infertility, clomiphene citrate leads to sperm appearing in the semen of 57% of those who had none before, but causes sperm to disappear in 7.5% of those who had sperm initially, so the overall rate of azoospermia does not change consistently across the group.
In men with unexplained infertility, standard clinical measurements such as age, weight, hormone levels, and treatment length cannot reliably predict whether clomiphene citrate will increase or decrease their motile sperm count.
In men with unexplained infertility, clomiphene citrate treatment increases serum testosterone levels by approximately 100% and raises levels of luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone through inhibition of estrogen signaling in the hypothalamus.
Low testosterone levels are linked to lower sperm count and reduced ability to conceive.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.