Can semen analysis predict the presence of antisperm antibodies in patients with primary infertility?

Summary

A retrospective study was performed to evaluate the ability to predict sperm-surface antisperm antibodies (ASA) in patients with primary infertility on the basis of semen analysis. In particular, the ability to predict ASA status on the basis of impaired sperm motility was assessed. The clinical and seminal characteristics of 70 consecutive ASA-positive infertility patients detected by routine screening were reviewed. Similar analysis was performed on 128 consecutive patients with infertility who were found on routine screening to be ASA-negative. The association between the presence of ASA and sperm motility, concentration, and clumping was examined using multivariate analysis. Two variables were found to have a significant joint association with the presence of ASAs. Patients with sperm concentrations of >20 million/ml were significantly more likely to be ASA-positive (P=0.002). Second, after adjustment for sperm concentration, patients with lower motilities were significantly more likely to be ASA-positive (P=0.016). Although impaired motility was seen significantly more often in ASA-positive patients, this seminal defect alone should not be used for predictive screening, since 39% of ASA-positive patients had sperm motilities of >60%. Furthermore, when a normal sperm concentration (>20 million/ml) was combined with impaired sperm motility (<60%) as an indication for ASA testing in this population, the result was a sensitivity of only 43%, a specificity of 77%, and positive and negative predictive values of 50% and 77%, respectively. Despite the association between normal sperm concentrations and impaired motility, it appears that the results of semen analysis cannot be used as a sole indication for ASA testing.