“But no one's sure just why that is,” says Dr. Richard Bronson, director of reproductive endocrinology at Stony Brook University. The quality of a man's semen also seems to play a role. “Poor sperm quality can be the cause [of miscarriage] in about 6% of couples,” says Dr.
Current research suggests that the presence of DNA damage in sperm can more than double the risk of miscarriage. This is very significant: until now, miscarriage has mostly been thought of as a female problem. In turn, research into the causes and prevention of miscarriage has focused on women and not on men.
Having healthy sperm improves the chances of falling pregnant and the health of the baby. Sperm health is assessed by measuring 3 things: your sperm count, how your sperm move and their shape. If you and your partner are having trouble getting pregnant, your doctor may recommend a sperm test, known as semen analysis.
The quality of the sperm used at conception can have a profound impact on both growth and disease risk of the subsequent child. For instance, men who carry more fat, are more likely to have sperm with higher levels of DNA damage.
Sperm which are low in number or poor in quality can lead to difficulties in conceiving. If you do conceive, then the chances of miscarriage are higher when sperm quality is poor.
Signs that indicate that your sperm may be unhealthy
They are: Semen Color: Yellow color semen could indicate that you have jaundice or high consumption of alcohol or food that contains high concentration of sulfur. If your semen is greenish-yellow, it is an indication that there is a bacterial infection.
An abnormal semen analysis doesn't mean that you are infertile. Many men with low semen analysis values can still father children — it just might take longer.
Sperm with fragmented DNA might be able to fertilize an egg and initiate a pregnancy, because they still have the right number of chromosomes to being the process, Williams says. The paternal DNA, though, isn't called into action until later in the process.
Unless the sperm head is carrying defective genes or broken DNA, the sperm morphology won't cause any birth defects. Birth defects are mostly due to damage in the DNA package and it can be from either partner. Abnormal sperm morphology will make it difficult to conceive but may not cause any defects in the baby.
Meanwhile, the defective sperm is incapable of forming its pronucleus. With only one half of the chromosomes functional, the plan for building an embryo is incomplete and the process shuts down. These eggs are known as 1pn and have no potential for life. They are immediately discarded.
What causes recurrent pregnancy loss? Most pregnancy losses result from chromosomal, or genetic, abnormalities, and are random events. The abnormality may come from the egg, the sperm, or the early embryo. Approximately 12–15% of all clinically recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage.
Factors that may contribute to a low sperm count are:
Abuse of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs. Severe mumps infection after puberty. Hernia repair surgery. Hormone disorder.
This includes decreased sperm mobility and vitality, lower sperm counts, and abnormal morphology (the size and shape of sperm). It can also lead to physical damage. Any damage to sperm can cause fertility problems and, if an egg is fertilized, it may also lead to a miscarriage.
Most miscarriages - 8 out of 10 (80 percent) - happen in the first trimester before the 12th week of pregnancy. Miscarriage in the second trimester (between 13 and 19 weeks) happens in 1 to 5 in 100 (1 to 5 percent) pregnancies. Pregnancy loss that happens after 20 weeks is called stillbirth.
Bacterial or viral infections in the male reproductive tract can increase the production of ROS. Studies have shown that the rate of miscarriages after in vitro fertilization (IVF) is higher in women whose male partners have experienced genitourinary infections.
Genetic problems in children due to paternal age are less well known and in fact less than 10% of Down Syndrome cases arise as a result of a genetic error in the sperm.
Embryo quality is a by-product of both egg and sperm quality. Sometimes embryos can be a good indicator of why a couple cannot get pregnant. I often tell my patients that a good egg can often counterbalance a sperm that isn't as good quality, but sperm finds it challenging to counterbalance an egg.
Morphology can affect fertility because sperm need a certain shape to be able to penetrate the outer layers of the egg. Most men with abnormal sperm morphology are still able to father a child, but achieving pregnancy may take longer or require assistance from a fertility specialist.
A low sperm count, also called oligozoospermia, is where a man has fewer than 15 million sperm per millilitre of semen. Having a low sperm count can make it more difficult to conceive naturally, although successful pregnancies can still occur.
A sperm morphology, lower than 4 percent means it will take longer time to impregnate a female. Moreover normal sperm count to get pregnant is between 15 million to 200 million sperm per millilitre.
Low sperm count symptoms might include: Problems with sexual function — for example, low sex drive or difficulty maintaining an erection (erectile dysfunction) Pain, swelling or a lump in the testicle area. Decreased facial or body hair or other signs of a chromosome or hormone abnormality.
Depending on the cause of infertility in the male, a specific treatment is necessary. Unfortunately, most treatments of men with severely depressed sperm counts or motility are not very successful, except for IVF with Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI).