Predicting Male Infertility Using Artificial Neural Networks: A Review of the Literature

Male infertility is a relevant public health problem, but there is no systematic review of the different machine learning (ML) models and their accuracy so far. The present review aims to comprehensively investigate the use of ML algorithms in predicting male infertility, thus reporting the accuracy of the used models in the prediction of male infertility as a primary outcome. Particular attention will be paid to the use of artificial neural networks (ANNs). A comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Science Direct between 15 July and 23 October 2023, conducted under the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We performed a quality assessment of the included studies using the recommended tools suggested for the type of study design adopted. We also made a screening of the Risk of Bias (RoB) associated with the included studies. Thus, 43 relevant publications were included in this review, for a total of 40 different ML models detected. The studies included reported a good quality, even if RoB was not always good for all the types of studies. The included studies reported a median accuracy of 88% in predicting male infertility using ML models. We found only seven studies using ANN models for male infertility prediction, reporting a median accuracy of 84%.