Sperm Donors and Their Decline in Semen Quality

Introduction: The reported decrease in semen parameters which is found among males in the last years is worrying and should be considered. Sperm donors whose semen quality, normally should exceed the average of the general population, their semen parameters decline as well.

Aim: To evaluate the difficulty to find acceptable sperm donors in a setting of a sperm bank and to calculate the ratio between the number of screened candidates and the ultimate available donors.

Material & Methods: An internet recruitment of sperm donors was performed during the last four months. Potential sperm donors were asked to send their e mail address in order to call them for the accumulation of first screening anamnestic details. Candidates who had no medical history to exclude them as donors were asked to perform semen analysis as the next step. Those whose parameters were found to be suitable were asked to perform a second semen analysis test, this time to bring it through freezing and thawing procedure. The candidates who passed the freezing – thawing sperm test underwent genetic workup and if no mutation was detected the candidate was eligible to be a sperm donor.

Results: Seventy three males contacted by e mail our sperm bank secretariat. Of them only 47 (64.4%) responded by phone. Twenty six (35.6%) showed up and performed their first semen analysis. Eleven candidates (15.1% of those who initially applied, or 42.3% of those who performed their first semen analysis had to be excluded due to their pathological sperm parameters (39X10^6, 60% motility). The remaining 15 candidates with mean sperm concentration of 77 X10^6 and 65% motility, performed their second semen analysis for the freezing thawing test. Ten were excluded ( 32x10^6 , motility 15%, thawing test) and only 5 (40x10^6, motility 25%, thawing test) were accepted. Of these five two had genetic mutation (Tay Sachs and Familial Dysautonomia). Thus, only 3 candidates were accepted as sperm donors which are 4.1% of those who contacted our sperm bank service or 11.5% of those whose semen parameters were tested.

Conclusions: The deterioration of semen parameters among the donors became evident during the last decades. A large study showed recently a decrease from 56% acceptable donors from applying candidates to 18% in a 15 years period apart. Our study shows that only 4% of the applying candidates or 11% of those whose semen was tested could donate sperm. This fact enlightens the increasing difficulty to find proper sperm donors.