Is male factor infertility associated with midlife low-grade inflammation? A population based study

Katia Keglberg Hærvig, Lene Kierkegaard, Rikke Lund, Helle Bruunsgaard, Merete Osler, Lone Schmidt

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Abstract

Male factor infertility is associated with an increased risk of disease and mortality, which has been related to markers of chronic systemic inflammation. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between male factor infertility and low-grade inflammation and furthermore to examine the lifetime prevalence of male factor infertility and overall infertility (also including female and couple infertility). The study population consisted of 2140 members of the Metropolit 1953 Danish Male Birth Cohort who had participated in the Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank data collection in 2009-2011. Information on male factor infertility and overall infertility was obtained from a questionnaire, and low-grade inflammation was evaluated as the highest plasma levels of C-reactive protein, interleukin-6 and tumour necrosis factor-alpha in the population. The level of interleukin-6 was significantly higher among men with male factor infertility compared with other men adjusted for potential confounders. This was not found for the two other inflammatory markers. The lifetime prevalence of male factor infertility and overall infertility were 10.2% and 17.9%, respectively. The findings suggest that male factor infertility might be associated with an increased level of interleukin-6.

Original languageEnglish
JournalHuman Fertility
Volume21
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)146-154
Number of pages9
ISSN1464-7273
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018

Keywords

  • Journal Article

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