The prevalence of circulating anti sperm antibody (ASA) in infertile population representing of all etiologies*

Objective: The clinical significance of anti-sperm antibody (ASA) in the etiology of infertility is slowly emerging. Both males and females can make antibodies that react with human sperm. The objective of this study is to investigate the prevalence of serum ASA in male and female patients at various age groups.
Materials and methods: A routine ASA screening was done on 680 patients registered for infertility treatment. The prevalence of ASA was estimated as percentage of ASA positive patients in different age and sex groups. The strength of the relationship of positive samples with the age and sex of the patients were tested by statistical analysis.
Results: A total of 39 (5.73%) out of 680 patients (336 male and 344 female) were ASA positive. Irrespective of the gender, the 2.5%, 6.82%, and 8.08% patients were positive in the age group of ≤30, 31-40, and ≥41 yr., respectively. The 4.36% female and 7.14% male were positive, the difference between the sexes is not statistically significant (p = 0.12). In female, 1.75%, 5.97%, and 4.35% whereas in male 3.48%, 7.61%, and 11.32% were ASA positive in ≤30, 31-40, and ≥41 yr. age group, respectively.
Conclusions: Less than 10% infertile patient of all etiologies is positive by circulating ASA, and ASA prevalence probably increases with patient’s age.