Publication:

Prevalence and clinical utility of sperm DNA fragmentation index in couples with unexplained infertility

Background Worldwide increased burden of infertility has built up stress in reproductive age group couples. Female factor evaluation and semen analysis are carried out routinely in infertility work up. As per the recent observations, males with normal semen analysis may have abnormal sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI). Thus, rendering semen analysis with poor diagnostic value in unexplained infertility cases. There is lack of adequate literature on prevalence of abnormal DFI in unexplained infertility. This study is directed to contribute to the literature by assessing prevalence of couples with ‘unexplained infertility’ having DFI>15% in male partners.

Methods After getting approval from institutional ethical and scientific research committee, 200 couples with unexplained infertility were recruited for the study and sperm DFI using sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD) test (Halo test) was done.

Results Out of 200 subjects, 54% were having low DFI, 32% were having moderate DFI and 14% were having high DFI.

Conclusions Many couples diagnosed as unexplained infertility according to traditional diagnostic methods has remarkably high degrees of fragmented sperm DNA. Identification of such couples provide vital information and better therapeutic options can be offered to them to achieve best reproductive outcomes.