Reasons for rejecting potential donors from a sperm bank program

Purpose: Recruiting donors to a sperm bank program is difficult and slow because of high dropout rates and high rejection rates. The profile of successful and unsuccessful donors was determined at our sperm bank. Methods: A total of 199 men was screened from 1986 to 1994 in the anonymous sperm bank donor program; 174 (87%) men dropped out or did not meet minimum guidelines. The study included 25 accepted donors and 20 rejected men (of 52 rejected donors, only 20 donors who came for two consecutive semen analyses were selected). Sperm quality variables and demographic data were compared between the groups. Results: Accepted donors had significantly better semen quality in motility, velocity, linearity, and ALH than did rejected donors (P < 0.01). More rejected donors than accepted donors were single (P < 0.01). A higher percentage of accepted donors consumed caffeine (P < 0.001), and they were more likely to have college degrees (P < 0.03). Conclusions: These results indicate that loss of interest and poor semen quality were the major reasons for rejection of donors in our anonymous donor sperm bank program.