Association between the presence of serum anti–cardiolipin antibodies and infertility

Rafah Oday Hussien; Abdul–Razak Sh. Hasan

Volume : VII, Issue : VIII, August - 2017

Association between the presence of serum anti–cardiolipin antibodies and infertility

Rafah Oday Hussien, Abdul Razak Sh. Hasan

Abstract :

Background:Infertility is a common problem affecting 15–20% of couples. The increased incidence of anticardiolipin (ACL) antibodies in infertile women supports the contention that these autoantibodies contribute to the infertility.Objectives: To investigate whether there is an association between the presence of serum ACL antibodies and infertility in both men and women in Diyala province. Subjects and methods: The present study was conducted in Baquba city for the period from October / 2013 to November 2014. Subjects included in this study were chosen from those attending Baquba Teaching Hospital, Al– Batool Teaching Hospital for Maternity and Children and some Primary Health Care Centers in Baquba. The subjects were categorized as follows; 30 apparently healthy males with ages ranged between (18 – 45) years. 30 apparently healthy women (age range 18–47 years) had at least two live births without any miscarriages. 25 women (age range between 18–43 years) had reproductive failure for at least one year of marriage. 30 women (age range between 24 – 44 years) with at least one live birth and had no pregnancy for at least two years after last child. 40 males with primary infertility (No children after at least five years of marriage and their active sperm count was zero). Detection of anti–ACL IgG and IgM were done using enzyme–linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) commercial kits (Wendell / Shelm/ Germany). All data were statistically analyzed.Results:The results revealed that the anti–ACL IgM positivity rate was significantly higher among women with primary fertility compared to healthy women (p=0.006). Similarly, the anti–ACL IgM and anti–ACL IgG were significantly among women with secondary infertility compared to healthy women (p=0.012) and (p=0.038) respectively. Although the anti–ACL IgG and IgM positivity rate among men with primary infertility was higher than that of healthy control; However, the differences were failed to reach the statistical significance (p=0.07) and (p=0.31) respectively. Conclusion: The presence of high levels of anticardiolipin antibodies in women with primary and secondary infertility as well as in men with primary infertility may support the contention that these autoantibodies contribute to the infertility in both sexes.