Stress-response in male partners of women submitted to in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer

Background: In a previous work, we have reported the relationship between women and the outcome of in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET). The goal of the present work is to evaluate the association between vulnerability to stress and treatment outcome in male partners of couples submitted to IVF-ET.

Methods: The day of semen collection at the Assisted Reproduction Unit of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Modena, 45 subjects were submitted to Stroop Color Word Conflict, a task measuring the ability to cope with a cognitive stressor, involving the attentional and sympathoadrenal system. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, as well as heart rate (HR), were measured at baseline, during the test and 10 min after the end of testing. The evidence of pregnancy (betahCG >250 mIU/ml 12 days after ET) is the main outcome measure; the couples were classed in either a 'success' or a 'failure' group.

Results: Thirteen couples became pregnant. Pregnancy progressed until term in 6 cases, while 7 cases showed only a preclinical evidence of pregnancy. Age, education, causes and duration of infertility were similar in the success and failure groups. No difference was found in the number and motility of spermatozoa both at baseline and after capacitation (a technique improving sperm motility). Moreover, the success group showed a higher number of both fertilized oocytes and embryos transferred compared with the failure group. The area under the curve of the cardiovascular parameters was calculated. The failure group showed a higher value for HR (50.6 +/- 36.7 of percent total change) than the success group (31.8 +/- 16.9; p = 0.006).

Conclusions: The cardiovascular response to stress is a good correlate of success in infertile males submitted to the IVF-ET program.