Oligoasthenospermia is correlated with increased preeclampsia incidence in subfertile couples undergoing in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer: a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial

Objective

To evaluate whether intergroup differences in the risk of maternal pregnancy complications after in vitro fertilization (IVF) vary with male factor.

Design

A post hoc exploratory secondary analysis of data from a multicenter, randomized, controlled noninferiority trial (NCT03118141).

Setting

Academic fertility centers.

Patient(s)

A total of 1,131 subfertile women with complete recording of their male partner’s semen parameters during the trial were enrolled. All participants underwent intracytoplasmic sperm injection followed by frozen embryo transfer (ET) as part of their assisted reproductive technology treatment protocol.

Intervention(s)

Women were divided into the oligoasthenospermia (n = 405) and normospermia (n = 726) groups according to the quality of male sperm.

Main Outcome Measure(s)

Pregnancy complications, principally including the incidence of preeclampsia.

Result(s)

Notably, we found that the risk of maternal preeclampsia was significantly higher in the oligoasthenospermia group than in the normospermia group. After adjustments for confounding factors by multivariate logistic regression analysis, the incidence of preeclampsia in the oligoasthenospermia group was still significantly higher than that in the normospermia group (6.55% vs. 3.60%; odds ratio, 0.529; 95% confidence interval, 0.282–0.992). However, there were no significant differences in terms of embryo quality, cumulative live birth rate, other pregnancy complications, or neonatal outcomes between the 2 groups.

Conclusion(s)

Oligoasthenospermia was associated with a higher risk of maternal preeclampsia in subfertile couples undergoing IVF-ET treatment. In clinical practice, it is essential to thoroughly evaluate the sperm quality and quantity of male partners before IVF-ET. Further research is needed to establish the causal relationships between semen quality and adverse pregnancy complications, particularly preeclampsia, and explore potential interventions.