Effects of donor sperm on perinatal and neonatal outcomes resulting from in vitro fertilization-intracytoplasmic sperm injection and embryo transfer cycles: a retrospective cohort study

BackgroundThe impact of donor sperm on pregnancy outcomes is controversial. The aim of this study was to investigate whether donor sperm in in vitro fertilization (IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment could reduce the rate of live births or increase the incidence of adverse pregnancy outcomes and birth defects in neonates. MethodsThis single-centre, retrospective cohort study included 1,559 patients with infertility who received donor sperm at our hospital from 2015 to 2019. All the patients received fresh embryos and underwent first-cycle transfer. After propensity score matching, 4,677 controls who received their partners' sperm were matched at 1:3. Clinical pregnancy, perinatal, and neonatal outcomes were compared between the donor sperm and partner sperm groups. ResultsThe embryo development was better in the donor sperm group than in the partner sperm group. The high-quality embryo and available embryo rates were significantly higher in the donor sperm group (P