The effect of the father on the etiology of preeclampsia

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the association between infertility etiology in Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) pregnancies and preeclampsia; besides, we aimed to discuss the effect of the paternal factor in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.

Hypothesis: We hypothesized that preeclampsia is more common in ICSI pregnancies with male factor. It is known that maternal exposure to paternal sperm cells over a time period has a protective effect against preeclampsia. Male partners with azospermia have no sperm cells in their seminal fluid, whose female partners will not be able to develop some protective immunity against preeclampsia. We hypothesized that the infertile couples with male factor (partner with azoospermia and also oligospermia) would be an ideal model to test the partner-specific protective immunity against preeclampsia, as the women had no chance to develop adequate protective immunity via the partner’s sperm exposure.

Methods: This Single-center, retrospective study included 508 infertile couples admitted to our IVF center between January 2001 and March 2008. The data regarding the maternal age, etiology of the infertility, the pregnancy rates, abortus ratio and viable pregnancy rates was collected from the case files. Antenatal complications such as preeclampsia, placenta previa, abruptio placenta, premature rupture of membranes, premature labor, oligohydramnios, gestational diabetes, postmaturity, postpartum complications and neonatal outcomes were evaluated via the file records and phone interviewing. The study population was divided into two main groups according to the etiology of infertility. 301 of the study population (group 1) was infertile due to male factor and 207 of the study population (group 2) was female factor and unexplained infertility cases.Group 1 patients were divided further into two subgroups: group 1a included 56 cases in which TESE (testicular sperm extraction) was used to obtain the sperm cells as the male factor was severe and as there was no sperm cells in seminal fluid. Group 1 b consists of 245oligospermic cases who obtained sperm cells via conventional methods.

Results: The mean ages of women in Group one and two were 30.22±5.06 and 31.58±4.36 years respectively (p=0.001). 129 cases (42,8%) from group one and 106 cases (51,2%) from Group two ended in first trimester and early second trimester (<24 gestational weeks) pregnancy loss. In group one, only 172 cases of 301 pregnancies passed over 24 weeks of gestational age, whereas in group two, 101 cases of 207 patients passed over 24 gestational weeks. There was no significant difference between two groups regarding chemical pregnancies and early pregnancy loss (p=0.314). There was no significant difference between the groups regarding placenta previa, gestational diabetes, oligo hydramnios and intrauterine growth retardation. One one pregnancy was 1.5 times more vulnerable for preeclampsia.

Conclusion: Pregnancies with azoospermic and oligospermic partners had an increased risk for developing preeclampsia.