A study of the relationship of motile sperm numbers in cervical mucus 48 hours after artificial insemination with subsequent fertility.

The records of 159 women who underwent 561 cycles of donor insemination (AID) in the UCD artificial insemination program were analyzed in a study of the relationship of the numbers of motile sperm seen in the cervical mucus 48 hours after AID with subsequent fertility. The numbers of motile sperm were expressed on an integral rank scale (0 to 8). A relationship between the results and subsequent fertility was demonstrated. The distribution of the data on sperm numbers for fertile and infertile cycles were qualitatively and quantitatively different. The latter were consistently skewed toward low values, while the former were not. Overall, mean values were higher for conception cycles. Selective grouping of women to eliminate factors that could potentially have an adverse influence on fertility, such as pelvic abnormality, oligoovulation, or prior pelvic operation, increased the overall conception rate. However, they did not influence the relationship between low and high motile sperm numbers and subsequent conception.