Pregnancy rates in patients treated for antisperm antibodies with prednisone

Circulating antisperm antibodies are associated with decreased fertility in both men and women. Several recent reports suggest that corticosteroids suppress antibody levels and thus enhance fertility in such patients. Prednisone was given to 24 patients; 26 patients with antibodies were not so treated and served as controls. The treated group comprised five women and 19 men; the control group comprised one woman and 25 men who had equivalent levels of circulating antibodies. The drug, when given to men, did not cause changes in sperm count, motility, or normal forms, but it did cause significant reductions in levels of circulating immobilizing (P less than or equal to 0.039) and agglutinating (P less than or equal to 0.001) antisperm antibodies in both sexes. Fourteen pregnancies occurred during the 4-month posttreatment study period. Significantly more pregnancies occurred in the treated group than in the control group (11 treated patients [45%] and three controls [12%]; P less than or equal to 0.025). Of the five treated women, four conceived.