The outcome of artificial donor insemination compared to the husband's fertility status

One thousand, three hundred and fifty-seven women were treated by artificial donor insemination (AID) using frozen semen at seven Australian centres. Eight hundred and forty-three of the husbands were azoospermic and five hundred and fifteen had pathological semen. The wives of azoospermic men had a significantly higher rate of success when the two groups were compared by life table analysis. It appears likely that the wives of oligospermic men who require AID are less fertile, and may be a contributory factor in the couple's subfertility.