(303) The Predictive Role of Baseline Hormone Profile Evaluation for the Likelihood of Having a Child in Infertile Men
Authors: Fendereski K , Horns J , Dehghanbanadaki H , Schardein J , Ramsay J , Randell Z , Gross K , Jimbo M , Pastuszak A , Watkins C , Hotaling J 
Published: February 2024

Introduction

Sex hormone profile evaluation is commonly used in male infertility assessment to identify potential hormonal imbalances and underlying issues that can impact sperm production, sperm quality, or reproductive organ function.

Objective

To evaluate the likelihood of having a child in subfertile and infertile men within five years based on their serum hormone levels on their initial encounter for infertility evaluation/treatment.

Methods

We identified a retrospective cohort from the Subfertility, Health, and Assisted Reproduction (SHARE) study (compiled 1996-2017) linked with familial information from the Utah Population Database (UPDB) including all men with a measured value of albumin, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), Free testosterone (T), total, and bioavailable T, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), and estradiol (E). We included men who had a semen analysis (SA) within 1 year of their hormone measurement. The primary outcome of the study was any evidence of childbirth, and the secondary outcome was the time from baseline hormone evaluation to childbirth. All men were followed for 60 months after their recorded hormone value for evidence of childbirth. Using Cox proportional hazards models, we modeled the likelihood of having a child and the time to childbirth (using linear regression) against the quintile of hormone distribution.

Results

A total number of 1298 men who underwent hormone profile evaluation and SA were included in this study. The mean age for the total cohort was 33 (29-37) years old. Men who had a child at the end of the study period (31 (28-36)) were significantly younger than men without a child at the end of the study with a mean age of (35.5 (32-40.25)) (p &lt; 0.001). The mean sperm concentration for the total cohort was 7.6 (1-27.4) (M/ml) and the mean total progressive motile count was 9 (0.9-47) (M). Overall, semen parameters showed no significant differences between men who had a child at the end of the study follow-up versus men who did not. Our models showed that prolactin serum levels in quantile 7 have the highest ratio (2.236 (0.919-5.44) p=0.076) for the likelihood of having a child. Total testosterone in quantiles 3 and 5 showed an increased likelihood of having a child (2.119 (1.176-3.821) (p=0.012), (2.518 (1.412-4.491)) (p=0.002), respectively. Albumin in quantiles 5-9 followed a similar pattern with the highest ratio in quantile 8 (3.551 (1.486-8.487)) (p=0.004). Our results did not show meaningful patterns between semen parameters, serum hormone levels, and time to having a child.

Conclusions

The outcomes of this study indicate that prolactin, total testosterone, and albumin serum levels on the first visit in men with infertility concerns are associated with an increased likelihood of having a child. Abnormal semen analysis outcomes are not well associated with hypoandrogenism in infertile men. Our study shows that baseline serum prolactin, total testosterone, and albumin levels can be used to estimate the likelihood of having a child in subfertile and infertile men. These findings can provide the basis for further studies to determine an optimal screening method for male-factor infertility related to abnormal hormone levels.

Disclosure

Any of the authors act as a consultant, employee or shareholder of an industry for: Equity/salary/officer in company: Paterna bio, firmtech; Consulting: Turtle health, maximus, carrot; inherent bio.