TY - JOUR

T1 - Maternal vitamin D levels and male reproductive health

T2 - a population-based follow-up study

AU - Gaml-Sørensen, Anne

AU - Brix, Nis

AU - Hærvig, Katia Keglberg

AU - Lindh, Christian

AU - Tøttenborg, Sandra Søgaard

AU - Hougaard, Karin Sørig

AU - Høyer, Birgit Bjerre

AU - Ernst, Andreas

AU - Arendt, Linn Håkonsen

AU - Clemmensen, Pernille Jul

AU - Bonde, Jens Peter Ellekilde

AU - Henriksen, Tine Brink

AU - Toft, Gunnar

AU - Arah, Onyebuchi A.

AU - Ramlau-Hansen, Cecilia Høst

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023, Springer Nature B.V.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - 25-hydroxyvitamin D

KW - Instrumental variable analysis

KW - Prenatal exposure

KW - Reproductive hormones

KW - Semen quality

KW - Testes volume

U2 - 10.1007/s10654-023-00987-5

DO - 10.1007/s10654-023-00987-5

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36952117

AN - SCOPUS:85150653632

VL - 38

SP - 469

EP - 484

JO - European Journal of Epidemiology

JF - European Journal of Epidemiology

SN - 0393-2990

ER -