A negative association between triglyceride glucose-body mass index and testosterone in adult males: a cross-sectional study.

Background and objectives: Insulin resistance (IR) is closely related to the decline or deficiency of testosterone in males. Triglyceride glucose-body mass (TyG-BMI) is considered to be a novel indicator of IR. We conducted this analysis to investigate the association between TyG-BMI and male testosterone, and to explore whether its ability to predict testosterone deficiency is superior to HOMA-IR and TyG. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, 2011-2016). The TyG-BMI index was calculated from serum triglyceride, fasting plasma glucose and BMI. The association of TyG-BMI with male testosterone was estimated by weighted multivariable regression. Results: We included 3394 participants for the final analysis. After adjusting for confounders, TyG-BMI was found to show an independent negative association with testosterone (ß=-1.12, 95%CI: -1.50, -0.75, P<0.0001). Multivariate-adjusted beta also showed testosterone levels were significantly lower in the two highest TyG-BMI group (Q3, Q4) compared to the lowest group (Q1). Similar results were seen in all of the subgroup populations by stratified analysis (all P-interaction >0.05). Furthermore, ROC curve analysis indicated that the area under the curve of TyG-BMI index (0.73, 95% CI: 0.71, 0.75) was larger than that of HOMA-IR index (0.71, 95% CI: 0.69, 0.73) and TyG index (0.66, 95% CI: 0.64, 0.68). Conclusion: Our result suggested a negative association between TyG-BMI index and testosterone in adult males. The predictability of the TyG-BMI index for testosterone deficiency is better than that of HOMA-IR index and TyG index.

Investigate the effect of COVID-19 inactivated vaccine on sperm parameters and embryo quality in in vitro fertilization.

Since the reproductive toxicity of COVID-19 vaccines have not been assessed in previous clinical trials, and studies have shown that SARS-CoV-2 is associated with a decrease in sperm parameters. Although it has been reported that the mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccines do not adversely affect semen parameters, whether this conclusion applies to inactivated vaccines remains unclear. Here, we conducted a study among patients who accepted in vitro fertilization (IVF) at the reproductive centre between June and August of 2021. In the enrolled cases, men who have completed two doses of COVID-19 inactivated vaccine were included in "vaccine group" (N = 105), and those who were not vaccinated were included in "control group" (N = 155). In this study, we compare the sperm parameters and embryo quality between these two groups. Our data showed that the sperm parameters were similar in terms of volume, sperm concentration, sperm count, progressive motility, total motility and total motile sperm count between these two groups. Similarly, no significant differences were observed in IVF outcomes. The mean number of 2PN, cleavage-stage embryos, blastocysts, and good-quality blastocysts was 8.59 ± 4.47, 5.06 ± 3.17 and 2.08 ± 1.79 in vaccine group, 7.75 ± 4.14, 4.34 ± 3.06 and 1.74 ± 1.54 in control group, respectively. The high-quality blastocyst rate was 41.05% (218 of 531) in vaccine group and 40.03% (269 of 672) in control group (p > 0.05). In addition, no differences were observed in biochemical and clinical pregnancy rates between the two groups. In summary, our results revealed that COVID-19 inactivated vaccine administration exhibited no negative effect on sperm parameters and embryo quality in IVF.

Comparison of pregnancy and neonatal outcomes of intracytoplasmic sperm injection performed with frozen versus fresh testicular sperm.

Background: It remains controversial whether there is a difference in the prognosis of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) using frozen or fresh testicular sperm in patients with obstructive azoospermia (OA). Moreover, in the available studies, few have tracked neonatal outcomes. This study aimed to compare the pregnancy and neonatal outcomes of ICSI using cryopreserved sperm versus fresh sperm collected by testicular sperm aspiration (TESA). Methods: A total of 317 OA patients treated with ICSI in a university affiliated hospital from January 2016 to December 2020 were included in this study. The participants were divided into two groups according to the type of sperm used for ICSI: frozen sperm group (n=154) and fresh sperm group (n=163). The pregnancy and neonatal outcomes of the two groups were compared. Results: The data produced by this study showed no significant statistical difference in the 2 pronuclei (2PN) fertilization rate, 2PN cleavage rate, high-quality blastocyst rate, and the average number of transferred embryos in the frozen and fresh sperm groups. Similarly, no difference was found in implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate, multiple pregnancy rate, miscarriage rate, premature delivery rate, live birth rate, and gender ratio at birth (P>0.05). The average newborn birth weight was similar in both groups (2,932.61±728.40 vs. 3,100.32±515.64 g, respectively) (P>0.05). A higher incidence of low birthweight (LBW) newborns was found in the frozen sperm group (20.91% vs. 8.49%) (P<0.05). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that LBW is related to single or twin pregnancies (P<0.01), but not sperm (frozen or fresh) (P>0.05). We further analyzed the twin and single pregnancies in the two groups separately, and found that the incidences of LBW were both similar (P>0.05). There was no difference in the Apgar scores at 1 min and 5 min after birth between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusions: The use of frozen testicular sperm by TESA was efficient for men with OA. There were similar pregnancy and neonatal outcomes following TESA-ICSI using frozen or fresh sperm in this retrospective study. Prospective investigations are needed for further validation.