Obesity leads to higher risk of sperm DNA damage in infertile patients

Charlotte Dupont; Céline Faure; Nathalie Sermondade; Marouane Boubaya; Florence Eustache; Patrice Clément; Pascal Briot; Isabelle Berthaut; Vincent Levy; Isabelle Cedrin-Durnerin; Brigitte Benzacken; Pascale Chavatte-Palmer; Rachel Levy

doi:10.1038/aja.2013.65

Male Fertility · Male Factor Causes

Obesity leads to higher risk of sperm DNA damage in infertile patients

Dupont C, Faure C, Sermondade N, Boubaya M, Eustache F, Clément P, Briot P, Berthaut I, Levy V, Cedrin-Durnerin I, Benzacken B, Chavatte-Palmer P, Levy R

Published September 2013 Asian journal of andrology, 15(5), 622-5

DOI 10.1038/aja.2013.65 PMID 23792341 PMC PMC3881654

RRM Academy Synopsis

Obese men had higher odds of sperm DNA damage in a 330-man study

Among 330 men at four French centers, obese men had 2.5 times the odds of moving up one sperm DNA damage category compared with men of normal weight, after adjustment for age and smoking. The men's couples had trouble getting pregnant. Overweight men showed no clear difference from normal-weight men.

Study at a glance, multicentre study of 330 men: Obese men had higher odds of sperm DNA damage than normal-weight men. Source: Dupont C et al., 2013, PMID 23792341.

Key Findings

The study included 330 men from couples with trouble getting pregnant, grouped as normal weight, overweight or obese by BMI.
After adjustment for age and smoking, obese men had an odds ratio of 2.5 (95% CI 1.2–5.1) for moving up one sperm DNA damage category, against men of normal weight.
Overweight men showed no clear difference from normal-weight men: odds ratio 1.4 (0.8, 2.4) after adjustment.
Sperm motility was lower in obese men than in normal-weight men, by a mean difference of −8.6 (95% CI −14.6, −2.6) percentage points after adjustment.
Total sperm count and the share of normally shaped sperm showed no association with BMI.

Interpretation

The men were measured once, at a semen analysis, so the study shows an association and leaves cause open. Only 43 men were obese, and the confidence interval runs from 1.2 to 5.1, so the size of the effect is imprecise. All men came from couples having trouble getting pregnant, and the paper reports no pregnancy or birth outcomes. The authors name oxidative stress as a possible mechanism and call for research on weight normalization and sperm DNA integrity.

RRM Context

RRM evaluates both partners when looking for the cause of infertility. The authors state in their introduction that almost 50% of infertility cases involve male factors. The paper adds one finding for that evaluation: sperm DNA damage and motility differed by BMI group while total count and normal shape did not. Whether weight change alters sperm DNA integrity remains untested here.

Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.

Abstract

There has been a growing interest over the past few years in the impact of male nutrition on fertility. Infertility has been linked to male overweight or obesity, and conventional semen parameter values seem to be altered in case of high body mass index (BMI). A few studies assessing the impact of BMI on sperm DNA integrity have been published, but they did not lead to a strong consensus. Our objective was to explore further the relationship between sperm DNA integrity and BMI, through a 3-year multicentre study. Three hundred and thirty male partners in subfertile couples were included. Using the terminal uridine nick-end labelling (TUNEL) assay, we observed an increased rate of sperm DNA damage in obese men (odds ratio (95% confidence interval): 2.5 (1.2-5.1)).

Topics

Male Fertility › Male Factor Causes › Lifestyle and Environment · Lifestyle and Environment › Nutrition and Metabolic Health › Body Weight and Composition

Charlotte Dupont, Céline Faure, Nathalie Sermondade, Marouane Boubaya, Florence Eustache, Patrice Clément, Pascal Briot, Isabelle Berthaut, Vincent Levy, Isabelle Cedrin-Durnerin, Brigitte Benzacken, Pascale Chavatte-Palmer, Rachel Levy

C Dupont, C Faure, N Sermondade, M Boubaya, F Eustache, P Clément, P Briot, I Berthaut, V Levy, I Cedrin-Durnerin, B Benzacken, P Chavatte-Palmer, R Levy

PMID 23792341 23792341 DOI 10.1038/aja.2013.65 10.1038/aja.2013.65 Dupont et al. 2013, Dupont 2013

Obesity leads to higher risk of sperm DNA damage in infertile patients

Obese men had higher odds of sperm DNA damage in a 330-man study

Key Findings

Interpretation

RRM Context

Abstract

Topics

By this author

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