Factors affecting fecundity among sperm donors: a multivariate analysis.

UNLABELLED: The study was aimed at identifying the predictors of the male fertility potential among sperm donors. Fifty anonymous donors undergoing 683 intracervical insemination (ICI) cycles between January 2002 and December 2006 were retrospectively evaluated according to semen characteristics in terms of reproduction rate (RR). We used RR as a parameter to determine the fertility potential among sperm donors. The overall RR was 26.79%. There were no significant differences among low, mean and high RR groups with regard to most sperm routine parameters. However, the RR was notably higher in the sperm morphology of ≥18% than in the <18% group (26.2% versus 19.4% respectively; P < 0.01). Both post-thaw total motility and progressive motility were proportional to RR (P < 0.01). Differences in RR were seen when the percentage of propidium iodide-negative spermatozoa was ≥45% (26.2% versus 16.4% respectively; P < 0.01) and DNA fragmentation index (DFI) was <8% (37.5% versus 17.9% respectively; P < 0.01) in post-thaw samples. Using stepwise linear regression analysis, the percentage of normal morphology, post-thaw progressive motility, PI-negative spermatozoa, DFI had the maximum power to predict the donor fecundity in ICIs.

CONCLUSION: Both the integrity of plasma membrane and DNA in spermatozoa are crucial factors affecting the fecundity of sperm donors. Therefore, the addition of some of these new tests to routine semen analysis could significantly improve the recruitment of sperm donors and the clinical pregnancy rate of anonymous donors.