Background: Many centers require patients to collect semen samples only in an office setting while others allow for semen collection either at home or in the office. There has never been a study to determine if one site yields superior semen parameters than the other and therefore there is currently no standard preference or protocol for the site of semen collection. The purpose of this study is to determine if the site of semen collection effects semen parameters by comparing semen samples collected at home to those collected in the office.
Methods: A prospective cohort study of two groups of patients consisting of those that had collected semen during a work-up for infertility and those that had collected semen for intrauterine insemination (IUI). Patients were included in a group only if they had collected samples both at home and in the office. The semen parameters of those samples collected at home were compared to those collected in the office to determine if there was a statistically significant difference.
Results: 170 male patients who were being evaluated for infertility and 97 men who were collecting semen samples for use in IUI were studied. There was no statistically significant difference in sperm count, sperm motility, total count, or total motile count between those samples collected at home versus those collected in the office in either group of patients.
Conclusion: The site of semen collection, whether at home versus in the office, does not have a clinically significant effect on semen analysis parameters. Therefore patients should be allowed to bring semen samples in from home as long as standard collection guidelines are followed.