More and more studies (in ‘fertility & sterility’ THE western medical journal all your IVF doctors read to keep up with research) are showing the correlation between sperm quality (in particular DNA fragmentation rate) and embryo quality. Evidence strongly suggests that if a man is displaying low sperm motility (in particular, low % rapid progression) then his sperm DNA fragmentation rate will be higher. Therefore, sperm with low motility may very well be getting women pregnant, but producing embryos of poor quality, and not living past the early weeks of pregnancy. Paxil (a common antidepressant), amongst many other causes, damages sperm (see article). It is an increasingly popular suggestion among healthcare professionals that men do everything they can to improve sperm parameters before jumping into an IVF.
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