Differences in spermatic morphology between couples with repeated pregnancy loss and infertility

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Sebastián Carranza-Lira
Gabriel Juan Celis-Rico

Keywords

Semen analysis, Abortion, habitual, Infertility

Abstract

Objective: to determine the differences in sperm morphology between couples who never have been pregnant and those with habitual early pregnancy loss.

Methods: forty five infertile couples were divided into two groups as follow: if they have never been pregnant or if they had habitual miscarriage. Women’s and men’s ages, as well as time of infertility were investigated. A semen analysis was done to all male partners and the following parameters were analyzed: Concentration, agglutination, viscosity, motility, morphology and leukocytes presence. For analysis three cutoff points were used, considering if they had two or more miscarriages, three or more or 4 or more. Data are reported in median and range. Comparison among the groups was made by Mann-Whitney U test and Chi square.

Results: when comparing the couples with two or more miscarriages, with those with no pregnancy, no differences were found. When the cutoff point was three or more miscarriages, also no differences were found. When cutoff point was four or more miscarriages, only normal morphology was statistically greater in group with no previous pregnancy than in group with habitual miscarriage 47 (16-93) and 36 (4-40), respectively, p < 0.04).

Conclusions: low normal sperm morphology is associated with repeated early pregnancy loss.

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