Use of semen quality scores to predict pregnancy rates in couples undergoing intrauterine insemination with donor sperm

Abstract

To establish semen quality scores in a population of sperm donors and determine whether the scores can be used to predict pregnancy rates after donor insemination. Retrospective study. Infertility clinic at a tertiary care teaching hospital between 1993-2001. One hundred eleven women who underwent IUI with sperm from 27 anonymous donors. None. The semen analysis results before freezing and after thawing were analyzed, and overall donor insemination semen quality (DI-SQ) and donor insemination relative quality (DI-RQ) scores were calculated. After adjusting for female characteristics, the scores were compared with samples that did and did not result in pregnancy. Of 111 patients, 70 had at least one pregnancy, and 60 had at least one live birth, with a mean of 6.52 ± 4.67 IUI cycles per patient. Five significant risk factors for low pregnancy and live birth rates were identified: female infertility factor, positive laparoscopy, older maternal age, low number of previous births, and lack of ovulatory stimulation. After adjusting for these factors, both prefreeze and postthaw DI-SQ scores were statistically significantly associated with IUI live birth rates. Using only the samples with a DI-SQ score of >110 doubled the expected live birth rate, compared with using samples with a DI-SQ score less than 100, from 8.5% to 16.1%. The DI-SQ score was an effective predictor of pregnancy and live birth outcomes in IUI patients who underwent artificial insemination with anonymous donor semen. The DI-SQ score could also be used by sperm banks to help select donors. © 2004 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.