NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The rate of sperm chromosome aneuploidy appears to be increased in couples with multiple miscarriages, according to a new report. The findings suggest "a new possible cause of recurrent pregnancy loss," the authors write in the June issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Recurrent pregnancy loss--defined as having three or more miscarriages--affects up to 1% of couples, and in more than half of cases the cause is unknown.

In the study, researchers evaluated semen quality and aneuploidy for five sperm chromosomes in 24 men whose partners had recurrent pregnancy loss. For comparison, they studied sperm from 42 men in the general population, and from a group of semen donors who had become fathers within the past two years.

Overall, men in couples with recurrent pregnancy loss had an increased level of sperm aneuploidy. The average rate was roughly twice that of the other men studied. Moreover, in men from the recurrent loss group, the percentage of aneuploid sperm was related to the percentage of apoptotic sperm (p < 0.001).

Aneuploidy in sperm may lead to abnormal embryonic or fetal growth and result in a miscarriage, lead author Dr. Douglas T. Carrell, from the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City, told Reuters Health.

Dr. Carrell noted that sperm aneuploidy should be considered in the workup of idiopathic recurrent pregnancy loss.

However, he noted that even in men with increased aneuploidy "not all sperm are bad." And he said that in the future, there may be ways to "select better sperm" to be used in assisted reproduction procedures.

Obstet Gynecol. 2003 Jun;101(6):1229-35

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