Infertility evaluation and access to assisted reproductive technologies among male military veterans: analysis of the South Florida Veterans Affairs experience

BACKGROUND: Recent legislation extended coverage for assisted reproductive technologies (ART) to male veterans within the United States Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system. We sought to characterize the appropriateness of male infertility diagnosis and access to assisted reproductive technologies (ART) among men within the local VA healthcare system after passage of the new legislation. METHODS: We retrospectively identified male patients within the South Florida VA Network who underwent semen analysis (SA) or were diagnosed with infertility between January 1999 and June 2017. Men were classified by infertility diagnosis and sperm concentration/mL (normal, oligospermia <15, severe oligospermia <5 million, azoospermia). We compared the number of oligospermic men before versus after the legislation. Men who did not receive ART were characterized according to eligibility criteria of military service connection to the infertility diagnosis. RESULTS: Six hundred twenty-seven men underwent SA or were diagnosed with infertility. Among 474 men with SA, 206 (43.5%) were diagnosed with infertility and 268 (56.5%) were not. Additionally, 153 men received an infertility diagnosis without SA. More men had oligospermia and severe oligospermia after the legislation (1 vs. 6, 1 vs. 10). Of 10 men with severe oligospermia post-legislation, 7 did not proceed to ART consultation due to lack of military service connection to the infertility diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: A substantial proportion of veterans with abnormal sperm concentrations were not diagnosed with infertility, while others carrying an infertility diagnosis did not undergo SA. Most patients clinically eligible for ART did not proceed with further evaluation due to lack of military service connection to their infertility diagnosis.