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Maternal vitamin D levels and male reproductive health : a population-based follow-up study

Gaml-Sørensen, Anne ; Brix, Nis ; Hærvig, Katia Keglberg ; Lindh, Christian LU orcid ; Tøttenborg, Sandra Søgaard ; Hougaard, Karin Sørig ; Høyer, Birgit Bjerre ; Ernst, Andreas ; Arendt, Linn Håkonsen and Clemmensen, Pernille Jul , et al. (2023) In European Journal of Epidemiology 38(5). p.469-484
Abstract

Maternal vitamin D levels during pregnancy may be important for reproductive health in male offspring by regulating cell proliferation and differentiation during development. We conducted a follow-up study of 827 young men from the Fetal Programming of Semen Quality (FEPOS) cohort, nested in the Danish National Birth Cohort to investigate if maternal vitamin D levels were associated with measures of reproductive health in adult sons. These included semen characteristics, testes volume, and reproductive hormone levels and were analysed according to maternal vitamin D (25(OH)D3) levels during pregnancy. In addition, an instrumental variable analysis using seasonality in sun exposure as an instrument for maternal vitamin D... (More)

Maternal vitamin D levels during pregnancy may be important for reproductive health in male offspring by regulating cell proliferation and differentiation during development. We conducted a follow-up study of 827 young men from the Fetal Programming of Semen Quality (FEPOS) cohort, nested in the Danish National Birth Cohort to investigate if maternal vitamin D levels were associated with measures of reproductive health in adult sons. These included semen characteristics, testes volume, and reproductive hormone levels and were analysed according to maternal vitamin D (25(OH)D3) levels during pregnancy. In addition, an instrumental variable analysis using seasonality in sun exposure as an instrument for maternal vitamin D levels was conducted. We found that sons of mothers with vitamin D levels < 25 nmol/L had 11% (95% CI − 19 to − 2) lower testes volume and a 1.4 (95% CI 1.0 to 1.9) times higher risk of having low testes volume (< 15 mL), in addition to 20% (95% CI − 40 to 9) lower total sperm count and a 1.6 (95% CI 0.9 to 2.9) times higher risk of having a low total sperm count (< 39 million) compared with sons of mothers with vitamin D levels > 75 nmol/L. Continuous models, spline plots and an instrumental variable analysis supported these findings. Low maternal vitamin D levels were associated with lower testes volume and lower total sperm count with indications of dose-dependency. Maternal vitamin D level above 75 nmol/L during pregnancy may be beneficial for testes function in adult sons.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
25-hydroxyvitamin D, Instrumental variable analysis, Prenatal exposure, Reproductive hormones, Semen quality, Testes volume
in
European Journal of Epidemiology
volume
38
issue
5
pages
16 pages
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • pmid:36952117
  • scopus:85150653632
ISSN
0393-2990
DOI
10.1007/s10654-023-00987-5
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
bf1bf478-88d7-4256-ae0f-1da159bc13f9
date added to LUP
2023-05-29 13:15:42
date last changed
2024-06-15 03:29:30
@article{bf1bf478-88d7-4256-ae0f-1da159bc13f9,
  abstract     = {{<p>Maternal vitamin D levels during pregnancy may be important for reproductive health in male offspring by regulating cell proliferation and differentiation during development. We conducted a follow-up study of 827 young men from the Fetal Programming of Semen Quality (FEPOS) cohort, nested in the Danish National Birth Cohort to investigate if maternal vitamin D levels were associated with measures of reproductive health in adult sons. These included semen characteristics, testes volume, and reproductive hormone levels and were analysed according to maternal vitamin D (25(OH)D<sub>3</sub>) levels during pregnancy. In addition, an instrumental variable analysis using seasonality in sun exposure as an instrument for maternal vitamin D levels was conducted. We found that sons of mothers with vitamin D levels &lt; 25 nmol/L had 11% (95% CI − 19 to − 2) lower testes volume and a 1.4 (95% CI 1.0 to 1.9) times higher risk of having low testes volume (&lt; 15 mL), in addition to 20% (95% CI − 40 to 9) lower total sperm count and a 1.6 (95% CI 0.9 to 2.9) times higher risk of having a low total sperm count (&lt; 39 million) compared with sons of mothers with vitamin D levels &gt; 75 nmol/L. Continuous models, spline plots and an instrumental variable analysis supported these findings. Low maternal vitamin D levels were associated with lower testes volume and lower total sperm count with indications of dose-dependency. Maternal vitamin D level above 75 nmol/L during pregnancy may be beneficial for testes function in adult sons.</p>}},
  author       = {{Gaml-Sørensen, Anne and Brix, Nis and Hærvig, Katia Keglberg and Lindh, Christian and Tøttenborg, Sandra Søgaard and Hougaard, Karin Sørig and Høyer, Birgit Bjerre and Ernst, Andreas and Arendt, Linn Håkonsen and Clemmensen, Pernille Jul and Bonde, Jens Peter Ellekilde and Henriksen, Tine Brink and Toft, Gunnar and Arah, Onyebuchi A. and Ramlau-Hansen, Cecilia Høst}},
  issn         = {{0393-2990}},
  keywords     = {{25-hydroxyvitamin D; Instrumental variable analysis; Prenatal exposure; Reproductive hormones; Semen quality; Testes volume}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{469--484}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{European Journal of Epidemiology}},
  title        = {{Maternal vitamin D levels and male reproductive health : a population-based follow-up study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10654-023-00987-5}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10654-023-00987-5}},
  volume       = {{38}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}