ASTHENOZOOSPERMIA: ANALYSIS OF A LARGE POPULATION

Spermatozoa travel a long distance to meet and fertilize the oocyte, so sperm motility is a requisite for normal fertilization. Asthenozoospermia, or low sperm motility, is a common cause of human male infertility. This is a retrospective study (1992-1999) to document the prevalence of this pathology in infertile men and to clarify the probable factors associated to its etiology. The prevalence was 18.71% for asthenozoospermia and 63.13% for asthenozoospermia associated with oligo- and/or teratozoo-spermia; thus, 81.84% of the studied samples had altered motility. Leukocytospermia, the ratio of germ cells/sperm, anti-sperm antibodies, consistency, biochemical markers of accessory sex glands, and sperm response after swim-up were studied in normospermic (N), asthenozoospermic (A), and combined asthenozoospermic (C) samples. No significant difference was found in the frequency of leukocytospermia among groups. The rate of germ cells/(spermatozoa + germ cells) between C and N ( p