Hypo-osmotic swelling test and unexplained repeat early pregnancy loss

Area of Science:

• Reproductive Medicine
• Andrology
• Genetics

Background:

• Recurrent unexplained early pregnancy loss affects numerous couples.
• Identifying paternal factors is crucial for effective management.
• Standard semen parameters do not always correlate with reproductive success.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between sperm characteristics, including the hypo-osmotic swelling (HOS) test, and repeat unexplained early pregnancy loss.
• To evaluate the HOS test as a potential screening tool for paternal contributions to pregnancy loss.

Main Methods:

• Semen analysis using World Health Organization criteria was performed on 74 men with a history of repeat early pregnancy loss (Group A).
• A hypo-osmotic swelling (HOS) test was conducted on all participants.
• Semen samples from 65 men with proven fertility (Group B) served as controls.

Main Results:

• No significant differences were found in sperm concentration, morphology, or motility between Group A and Group B.
• Mean HOS test scores were significantly lower in Group A (60.4%) compared to Group B (76.9%) (P=0.01).
• Low HOS test scores were observed in 33.8% of men in Group A versus 12.3% in Group B.

Conclusions:

• The sperm HOS test may serve as a valuable tool for screening paternal factors contributing to recurrent embryonic or early fetal loss.
• The HOS test is a cost-effective and potentially useful diagnostic method, especially in resource-limited settings.
• This test can be implemented in standard clinical laboratories for enhanced fertility assessment.