Evaluation of the percentage of sperm motility at 24 h and sperm survival ratio for prediction of in vitro fertilization

Summary. The present study was carried out to investigate the predictive value of the percentage of sperm motility after 24-h incubation and sperm survival ratio from semen and inseminated sperm suspension using grading of motility by WHO criteria with respect to the fertilization of oocytes in vitro. A total of 789 oocytes from 85 cases were inseminated and the mean fertilization rate obtained was 72.5%. There was no significant correlation between all of the sperm motility results with fertilization rate in vitro. All sperm motility results were not significantly different between the non-fertilizing group and the fertilizing group and also between the group of fertilization rate ≤ 25th percentile (fertilization rate ≤62.5%) and the group of fertilization rate >62.5%. However, the initial percentage of rapid progressive sperm motility and progressive motility in semen and inseminated sperm suspension at 24 h gave significant differences between the group of fertilization ≤ 50th percentile (fertilization rate ≤80%) and the group of fertilization rate >80%. Overall accuracy using these parameters for prediction of fertilization rate >80% was only about 60%. In conclusion, the percentage of sperm motility at 24 h and sperm survival ratio in both semen and inseminated sperm suspension have no practical value in predicting fertilization rate in vitro. Moreover, detailed motility grading cannot improve the predictivity of these sperm motility parameters.