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. 2021 Sep;48(3):255-261.
doi: 10.5653/cerm.2021.04469. Epub 2021 Sep 1.

Predictive value of sperm motility before and after preparation for the pregnancy outcomes of intrauterine insemination

Mina Jeong  1   2 , Seul Ki Kim  2   3 , Hoon Kim  2   4 , Jung Ryeol Lee  2   3 , Byung Chul Jee  2   3 , Seok Hyun Kim  2   4
Affiliations

Predictive value of sperm motility before and after preparation for the pregnancy outcomes of intrauterine insemination

Mina Jeong et al. Clin Exp Reprod Med. 2021 Sep.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate sperm motility and its changes after preparation as predictors of pregnancy in intrauterine insemination (IUI) cycles.

Methods: In total, 297 IUI cycles from January 2012 to December 2017 at a single tertiary hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Patient and cycle characteristics, and sperm motility characteristics before and after processing were compared according to clinical pregnancy or live birth as outcomes.

Results: The overall clinical pregnancy rate per cycle was 14.5% (43/297) and the live birth rate was 10.4% (30/289). Patient and cycle characteristics were similar between pregnant and non-pregnant groups. Sperm motility after preparation and the total motile sperm count before and after processing were comparable in terms of pregnancy outcomes. Pre-preparation sperm motility was significantly higher in groups with clinical pregnancy and live birth than in cycles not resulting in pregnancy (71.4%±10.9% vs. 67.2%±11.7%, p=0.020 and 71.6%±12.6% vs. 67.3%±11.7%, p=0.030, respectively). The change in sperm motility after processing was significantly fewer in the non-pregnant cycles, both when the comparison was conducted by subtraction (post-pre) and division (post/pre). These relationships remained significant after adjusting for the female partner's age, anti-Müllerian hormone level, and number of pre-ovulatory follicles. According to a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, an initial sperm motility of ≥72.5% was the optimal threshold value for predicting live birth after IUI.

Conclusion: Initial sperm motility, rather than the motility of processed sperm or the degree of change after preparation, predicted live birth after IUI procedures.

Keywords: Intrauterine insemination; Pregnancy; Semen analysis; Sperm motility.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

Byung Chul Jee is an Editor-in-Chief and Seul Ki Kim is an Associate Editor of the journal, but they were not involved in the peer reviewer selection, evaluation, or decision process of this article. No other potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

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