Relation Between Spermatozoa Motility and Pregnancies Obtained During a Twenty-year Follow-up Period Spermatozoa Motility and Fertility

The clinical fertility of 1077 men with an infertility problem investigated with semen analysis including assessment of spermatozoa motility during the years 1950-52 was studied 20 years later using a questionnaire, replied by 785 (72.9%). Spermatozoa motility was assessed with a subjective method with four degrees--excellent, good, impaired and poor. There were significant correlations between better motility and number of living children (p less than 0.01) and to shortest time--interval to first pregnancy (p less than 0.001). Motility was not correlated to abortions and otherwise pathological pregnancies. With a poor motility there was still a fairly good chance of obtaining living children (32.7%) compared with 58.7% for an excellent motility), and it is therefore concluded, that assessment of spermatozoa motility is only suited for classification of slightly and modestly reduced male fertility, and not for classification of severely impaired fertility.