학술논문
Maternal vitamin D levels and male reproductive health: a population-based follow-up study
Document Type
article
Author
Gaml-Sørensen, Anne; Brix, Nis; Hærvig, Katia Keglberg; Lindh, Christian; Tøttenborg, Sandra Søgaard; Hougaard, Karin Sørig; Høyer, Birgit Bjerre; Ernst, Andreas; Arendt, Linn Håkonsen; Clemmensen, Pernille Jul; Bonde, Jens Peter Ellekilde; Henriksen, Tine Brink; Toft, Gunnar; Arah, Onyebuchi A; Ramlau-Hansen, Cecilia Høst
Source
European Journal of Epidemiology. 38(5)
Subject
Language
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 levels was conducted. We found that 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.