Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on July 15, 2005
Human Reproduction 2005 20(10):2909-2915; doi:10.1093/humrep/dei141
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Reproductive Epidemiology |
Fecundability according to male serum inhibin B—a prospective study among first pregnancy planners
1 Department of Occupational Medicine, University Hospital of Aarhus, Aarhus Sygehus, Norrebrogade 44, building 2C,2 Danish Epidemiology Sciences Centre, University of Aarhus, Vennelyst Boulevard 6, build. 260, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark, 3 Department of Growth and Reproduction, National University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, section GR 5064, Blegdamsvej 9, DK-2100 Copenhagen,4 Department of Environmental Medicine, University of Southern Denmark, Winslowparken 17, DK-5000 Odense C, Denmark and 5 Scanian Andrology Centre, Malmö University Hospital, SE 205 02 Malmö, Sweden
6 To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: anemt{at}akh.aaa.dk
BACKGROUND: New biological markers of male fecundity are needed for use in large-scale epidemiological studies. We studied the association between male inhibin B and fecundability. METHODS: Four hundred and thirty Danish couples without previous reproductive experience were followed from termination of contraception until pregnancy or for a maximum of six menstrual cycles. At enrolment we obtained semen samples (n = 418) and blood samples to measure reproductive hormones, including inhibin B (n = 343). RESULTS: The fecundability odds ratio for an increment of male inhibin B by 1 log pg/ml was 1.428 (95% confidence interval 1.022–1.994), adjusted for factors influencing the crude estimate. Only inhibin B values below 100 pg/ml were strongly related to fecundability. We designed a receiver operating characteristic curve based on the 29 males with serum inhibin B #100 pg/ml. The area under the curve (AUC) for inhibin B was 0.787 and the corresponding AUCs for sperm density and FSH were 0.913 and 0.800, respectively. CONCLUSION: Serum inhibin B may be a reliable marker of male fecundity for epidemiological research and may have some advantages over sperm density. Our findings do not support the replacement of sperm density by male inhibin B when obtaining sperm data is an option.
Key words: fertility/male reproduction/inhibins/sperm density/time to pregnancy
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