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Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Jan;22(1):e13082.
doi: 10.1111/obr.13082. Epub 2020 Jul 23.

Male adiposity, sperm parameters and reproductive hormones: An updated systematic review and collaborative meta-analysis

Albert Salas-Huetos  1   2   3   4 , Leila Maghsoumi-Norouzabad  5   6 , Emma R James  4   7 , Douglas T Carrell  4   7 , Kenneth I Aston  4 , Timothy G Jenkins  4   8 , Nerea Becerra-Tomás  1   2   3 , Ahmad Zare Javid  5   6 , Reza Abed  9 , Pedro Javier Torres  10   11 , Eugenia Mercedes Luque  10   11 , Nicolás David Ramírez  10   11 , Ana Carolina Martini  10   11 , Jordi Salas-Salvadó  1   2   3   12
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Male adiposity, sperm parameters and reproductive hormones: An updated systematic review and collaborative meta-analysis

Albert Salas-Huetos et al. Obes Rev. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

The present updated systematic review and meta-analysis aims to summarize the evidence from published studies with low risk for any important bias (based on methodological quality assessment) investigating the potential associations of adiposity with sperm quality and reproductive hormones. We conducted a systematic search of the literature published in MEDLINE-PubMed and EMBASE through June 2019. Based on the criteria in our review, 169 eligible publications were used for data abstraction. Finally, 60 articles were included in the qualitative analysis and 28 in the quantitative analysis. Our systematic review results indicated that overweight and/or obesity were associated with low semen quality parameters (i.e., semen volume, sperm count and concentration, sperm vitality and normal morphology) and some specific reproductive hormones (e.g., inhibin B, total testosterone and sex hormone-binding globulin). Overweight and/or obesity were also positively associated with high estradiol concentrations. Meta-analysis indicated that overweight and/or obesity categories were associated with lower sperm quality (i.e., semen volume, sperm count and concentration, sperm vitality, total motility and normal morphology), and underweight category was likewise associated with low sperm normal morphology. In conclusion, our results suggest that maintaining a healthy body weight is important for increasing sperm quality parameters and potentially male fertility.

Keywords: adiposity; meta-analysis; sex hormones; sperm parameters.

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References

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