Sexual function and clinical features of patients with Klinefelter's syndrome with the chief complaint of male infertility

In this report, we present the overall sexual function and clinical features of patients with Klinefelter's syndrome with the chief complaint of male infertility. The study consisted of 40 patients with a control group of 55 infertile non-azoospermic males with a normal 46,XY karyotype who visited the Reproduction Center of Toho University Hospital during the 5.5-year period between January 1991 and June 1996 with the chief complaint of male infertility. Among the 40 patients with Klinefelter's syndrome, 38 cases were pure 47,XXY, one case was 37,XXY with a pericentric inversion of chromosome 9 and one case was a mosaic of 46,XY/47,XXY(2:28). Thirty-nine of these 40 patients were azoospermic and one (47,XXY) had severe oligoasthenozoospermia. The sexual function of the patients was evaluated according to their responses to a preliminary questionnaire devised by our department. There was no significant difference in the frequency of sexual function disturbances between the patients with Klinefelter's syndrome and the control group (67.5% vs. 60.0%; chi(2) analysis; p = 0.454). The mean frequency of sexual intercourse per month in the patients with Klinefelter's syndrome was significantly higher than in the control group (4.4 +/- 2.8 vs, 3.3 +/- 1.6: Welch's t-test, p < 0.05). A possible explanation for this variation may lie in the fact that many of these patients were diagnosed with azoospermia prior to the administration of the questionnaire and may have wished to continue to have relations as a couple.