Objective.The clinical factors associated with sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) were investigated in male patients with infertility.\nMaterials and Methods. Fifty-four ejaculates from infertile Japanese males were used. Thirty-three and twenty-one were from\nthe patients with varicoceles and idiopathic causes of infertility, respectively. We performed blood tests, including the serum sex\nhormone levels, and conventional and computer-assisted semen analyses. The sperm nuclear vacuolization (SNV) was evaluated\nusing a high-magnification microscope. The SDF was evaluated using the sperm chromatin dispersion test (SCDt) to determine\nthe SDF index (SDFI). The SDFI was compared with semen parameters and other clinical variables, including lifestyle factors.\nResults.The SDFI was 41.3 �± 22.2% (mean �± standard deviation) and did not depend on the cause of infertility. Chronic alcohol use\nincreased the SDFI to 49.6 �± 23.3% compared with 33.9 �± 18.0% in nondrinkers.TheSDFI was related to adverse conventional semen\nparameters and spermmotion characteristics and correlatedwith the serumFSHlevel.TheSNVshowed a tendency to increase with\nthe SDFI. Themultivariate analysis revealed that the spermprogressive motility and chronic alcohol use were significant predictors\nof the SDF. Conclusion.The SCDt should be offered to chronic alcohol users and those with decreased sperm progressive motility.
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