Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jul 22;11(4):309-314.
doi: 10.14744/nci.2023.41882. eCollection 2024.

Relationship between inflammatory markers, hormonal profiles, and sperm parameters

Muserref Banu Yilmaz  1 , Reyyan Gokcen Iscan  1 , Zeynep Celik  1
Affiliations

Relationship between inflammatory markers, hormonal profiles, and sperm parameters

Muserref Banu Yilmaz et al. North Clin Istanb. .

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between semen parameters, complete blood count, and hormone levels on the day of spermiogram.

Methods: Semen parameters of 230 patients who were examined for full blood count test and hormone levels on the day of spermiogram were included in the study. Patients were grouped according to the total motile sperm count (TMSC), semen parameters, hemogram, and hormone levels were compared between groups.

Results: No statistically significant difference was found between groups in neutrophil ratios, neutrophil, lymphocyte, platelet counts, neutrophile-to-lymphocyte ratio (N/L), and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (P/L). However, white blood cell (WBC) and lymphocyte counts were weakly positively correlated with sperm concentration (p=0.021, p=0.026), and a weakly significant positive correlation was found with WBC and neutrophil count for motility (p=0.038, p=0.004). FSH level was found to be lower in cases with TMSC >20 m than those with TMSC <5 m and 5-10 m (p=0.004, p=0.022). LH was found to be lower in cases with TMSC >20 m than those with TMSC <5 m (p=0.048). A negative correlation was found for both FSH and LH levels with sperm concentration, motility, and TMSC (p<0.001, p=0.014).

Conclusion: In this study, a significant negative correlation was demonstrated between FSH, LH levels and sperm concentration, motility, TMSC. N/L and P/L cannot be used as predictive markers of sperm quality. The results of a significant positive correlation between WBC, neutrophil counts, and sperm parameters encourage researchers to conduct prospective randomized controlled trials with larger sample sizes and different inflammatory and hormonal markers.

Keywords: FSH; LH; neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio; platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio; semen parameters.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
WBC distribution by TMSC groups.
Figure 2
Figure 2
FSH distribution by TMSC groups.
Figure 3
Figure 3
LH distribution by TMSC groups.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aykan S, Canat L, Gönültaş S, Atalay HA, Altunrende F. Are there relationships between seminal parameters and the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio or the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio? World J Mens Health. 2017;35:51–6. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fraczek M, Kurpisz M. Cytokines in the male reproductive tract and their role in infertility disorders. J Reprod Immunol. 2015;108:98–104. - PubMed
    1. Oztekin Ü, Caniklioğlu M, Sarı S, Selmi V, Gürel A, Caniklioğlu A, et al. Are there any relationships between abnormal seminal parameters and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, platelet-lymphocyte ratio, and red blood cell distribution-platelet ratio? Cureus. 2019;11:e5242. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Subhan F, Tahir F, Ahmad R, Khan ZD. Oligospermia and its relation with hormonal profile. J Pak Med Assoc. 1995;45:246–7. - PubMed
    1. Sina D, Schuhmann R, Abraham R, Taubert HD, Dericks-Tan JS. Increased serum FSH levels correlated with low and high sperm counts in male infertile patients. Andrologia. 1975;7:31–7. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources