As the fertility risks for older males such as infertility and reduced success rates are on the rise, an increasing number of individuals are turning to Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) to have offspring. However, the influence of paternal age on fertility and pregnancy outcomes in ART cycles remains ambiguous. Here, we analyzed the sperm quality of 6,805 samples and DNA fragmentation index (DFI) of 1,253 samples from Chinese males aged 20-63 years old. Our findings demonstrated that sperm volume, progressive motility, and total motility significantly decline, while sperm DFI increases as paternal age advances. Additionally, by studying 1,205 cases undergoing ART treatment, we discovered that male age and sperm quality do not exhibit a pronounced impact on ART outcomes. Our study has disclosed that sperm quality and DFI are inversely correlated with increasing male age. Our data further suggest that male ages do not significantly affect ART outcomes, which should offer instructive references for ART practice involving older males.

Keywords: assisted reproductive technology (ART); cumulative pregnancy outcomes; male age; sperm DNA fragmentation index; sperm quality.

Copyright © 2025 Xie, Chen, Xu, Miao, Zheng, Jiang and Sun.

随着年龄增长，男性生育风险如不孕和成功率下降的问题日益突出，越来越多的人开始依赖辅助生殖技术（ART）来生育后代。然而，父亲的年龄对ART周期中生育能力和妊娠结果的影响仍然模糊不清。在这里，我们分析了6,805个样本的精子质量和1,253个样本的DNA片段化指数（DFI），这些样本来自年龄在20至63岁之间的中国男性。我们的研究发现表明，随着父亲年龄的增长，精子体积、前向运动能力和总运动能力显著下降，而精子DFI则上升。此外，通过对1,205例接受ART治疗的案例进行研究，我们发现男性的年龄和精子质量对ART结果影响不大。我们的研究表明，精子质量和DFI与男性年龄呈负相关，并且数据进一步表明，男性年龄并不会显著影响ART结果，这应为涉及老年男性的ART实践提供指导性参考。

关键词：辅助生殖技术（ART）；累积妊娠结局；男性年龄；精子DNA片段化指数；精子质量。