3 / 11
Sperm DNA damage and why it is important for
Your treatment
You and your partner are each going to give some of your DNA to your baby, so the health of
your DNA can impact on the health of your baby.
What is sperm DNA damage?
Research has shown that one of the reasons for increasing infertility around Europe is that
sperm quality has deteriorated. There are many reasons for this, such as smoking, poor diet
and environmental pollutants. All of these produce
Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)
that can
damage the DNA of your sperm.
Sperm DNA damage can lead to;
Fewer eggs being fertilized
Embryos not developing as well as they should
Lower pregnancy rates
Miscarriage
What if the semen analysis is normal? Do we need to have sperm DNA
damage as well?
Recent research shows that there is little correlation between a traditional semen analysis
results and the amount of DNA damage in your sperm. So even if your sperm counts are
normal, you may have DNA damage in your sperm. This means that just because a man has a
normal semen analysis, he may not be able to get his partner pregnant.
Sperm DNA testing can guide you to a diagnosis and give you more information for your
treatment choices.