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Clinical Trial
. 2015 Jun 12;10(6):e0130210.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130210. eCollection 2015.

Body Mass Index Is Associated with Impaired Semen Characteristics and Reduced Levels of Anti-Müllerian Hormone across a Wide Weight Range

Jorunn M Andersen  1 , Hilde Herning  1 , Elin L Aschim  1 , Jøran Hjelmesæth  2 , Tom Mala  3 , Hans Ivar Hanevik  4 , Mona Bungum  5 , Trine B Haugen  1 , Oliwia Witczak  1
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Body Mass Index Is Associated with Impaired Semen Characteristics and Reduced Levels of Anti-Müllerian Hormone across a Wide Weight Range

Jorunn M Andersen et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

There is still controversy as to how body mass index (BMI) affects male reproduction. We investigated how BMI is associated with semen quality and reproductive hormones in 166 men, including 38 severely obese men. Standard semen analysis and sperm DNA integrity analysis were performed, and blood samples were analysed for reproductive hormones. Adjusted for age and time of abstinence, BMI was negatively associated with sperm concentration (B = -0.088, P = 0.009), total sperm count (B = -0.223, P = 0.001), progressive sperm motility (B = -0.675, P = 0.007), normal sperm morphology (B = -0.078, P = 0.001), and percentage of vital spermatozoa (B = -0.006, P = 0.027). A negative relationship was observed between BMI and total testosterone (B = -0.378, P < 0.001), sex hormone binding globulin (B = -0.572, P < 0.001), inhibin B (B = -3.120, P < 0.001) and anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) (B = -0.009, P < 0.001). Our findings suggest that high BMI is negatively associated with semen characteristics and serum levels of AMH.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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