OBJECTIVE:

To determine the impact of sperm DNA damage on the most studied seminal parameters in clinical diagnosis of infertile males.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Prospective and comparative case-control study that included male patients seen at Centro Integral de la Mujer y Reproducción Asistida de Puebla, Mexico. Study parameters: age, mobility, morphology, seminal diagnosis, leukocytes and infertility factor. The results were analyzed with Graphpad Prism 5.0 and were considered statistically significant with p < 0.005.

RESULTS:

110 male patients were studied: 33 patients with poor sperm DNA integrity (group 1) and 77 patients with good integrity (group 2). Sperm concentration and type A + B mobility in group 2 was significantly higher than in group 1 (p <0.0001), where a greater number of non-progressive and immobile mobiles was recorded. The normal morphology was higher in group 2 (p = 0.0063). In men under 40 years of age, a significantly higher number of cases of good sperm integrity was observed (p = 0.013). The seminal diagnosis showed that males with poor integrity had more severe sperm alterations. The most frequent infertility factors involved in both groups were: repeat abortion, age of the couple, previous failure in the technique of assisted reproduction, severe male factor and tubal factor.

CONCLUSIONS:

The poor integrity of the sperm DNA has repercussions on sperm concentration, mobility and morphology, alters the seminal diagnosis, since males had more severe alterations when there was no infertility factor that described a specific behavior related to poor sperm integrity.