The researchers studied 553 male patients' semen samples to understand how damaged sperm DNA affects male fertility. They used a method called Sperm Chromatin Dispersion to measure DNA fragmentation. The results showed that as DNA damage increased, the sperm's ability to move forward (motility) and the health of their acrosomes (important for fertilization) decreased. Sperm count wasn't linked to DNA damage, but sperm motility and acrosome health were significantly worse in samples with higher DNA damage. This means that DNA fragmentation can be used as a reference to assess sperm function and fertility potential.