Inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis type) severity shows inverse correlation with semen parameters and testosterone levels

Darmadi Darmadi; Cennikon Pakpahan; Rajender Singh; Ankur Saharan; Wanly Syahrizal Pasaribu; Hermansyah Hermansyah; Andri Rezano

doi:10.4103/aja202353

Inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis type) severity shows inverse correlation with semen parameters and testosterone levels

Asian J Androl. 2023 Nov 7;26(2):155-159. doi: 10.4103/aja202353. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Darmadi Darmadi¹, Cennikon Pakpahan^{2

3}, Rajender Singh⁴, Ankur Saharan⁵, Wanly Syahrizal Pasaribu², Hermansyah Hermansyah², Andri Rezano^{2

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan 20155, Indonesia.
² Andrology Study Program, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya 60132, Indonesia.
³ Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya 60132, Indonesia.
⁴ Division of Endocrinology, Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226031, India.
⁵ Amity University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226010, India.
⁶ Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Padjadjaran, Sumedang 45363, Indonesia.

Abstract

Individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have been reported to be at an increased risk of infertility and sexual dysfunction. Although the relationship between them remains unclear, IBD severity is suspected to affect hormone levels and fertility. To analyze the impact of IBD severity on semen parameters and sex hormone levels in ulcerative colitis-type IBD (UC-IBD), we conducted a cross-sectional study involving 120 patients with UC-IBD in Adam Malik General Hospital, Medan, Indonesia. The patients were classified into three groups based on the Mayo score for UC, followed by a comparison of various semen and hormone parameters among these groups. In addition to the cross-sectional analysis, a simple correlation test was conducted irrespective of the patient grouping. Sperm concentration, motility, and morphology were found to decline significantly with an increase in IBD severity. Without classifying patients with IBD into subgroups, the Mayo score showed negative correlations with sperm concentration (r = -0.375, P < 0.0001), rapid progressive motility (r = -0.660, P < 0.0001), free testosterone (r = -0.732, P < 0.0001), and total testosterone (r = -0.721, P < 0.0001), and positive correlations with immotile sperm (r = 0.660, P < 0.0001), abnormal morphology (r = 0.657, P < 0.0001), and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG; r = 0.278, P = 0.002). Sperm concentration, motility, and morphology declined significantly with the severity of IBD. This study suggests a significant negative impact of IBD severity on semen quality and sex hormones.