ArticleThe Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism2022
Serum Testosterone Levels in 3-Month-Old Boys Predict Their Semen Quality as Young Adults.
Article in The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gonadotropin Therapy for Mini-Puberty Induction in Male Infants With Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2025Pooled it
- Gonadotropins for pubertal induction in males with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism: systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of endocrinology · 2024Pooled it
- Single-cell resolution uncovers neighboring cell subtypes that share steroidogenic capacity during fetal testis development.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- EndoCompass Project: Environmental Endocrinology.Hormone research in paediatrics · 2025Review
- Current landscape of fertility induction in males with congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2024Review
- Mini-Puberty, Physiological and Disordered: Consequences, and Potential for Therapeutic Replacement.Endocrine reviews · 2024Review
- Enhanced identification of endocrine disruptors through integration of science-based regulatory practices and innovative methodologies: The MERLON Project.Open research Europe · 2024Article
- MAPKs signaling is obligatory for male reproductive function in a development-specific manner.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2024Review
- Congenital hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism, induction of minipuberty, and future fertility.Endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism case reports · 2023Article
- The Beauty of Age-dependent Standardization in Pediatric Endocrine Research and Practice.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2022Article
- Prenatal exposure to phenols and benzophenones in relation to markers of male reproductive function in adulthood.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Article
- Reversible hypogonadotropic hypogonadism in men with the fertile eunuch/Pasqualini syndrome: A single-center natural history study.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
contextIt remains unknown how the postnatal activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis in infancy, also known as "minipuberty", relates to adult testis function.
objectiveTo investigate how markers of reproductive function in 3-month-old boys correlate with adult reproductive health parameters.
methodsThis population-based birth cohort study (the Copenhagen Mother-Child cohort), conducted at Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark, included 259 boys examined once around 3 months of age and again at 18 to 20 years. Reproductive hormones, penile length, testis volume, and semen quality were analyzed. Minipubertal markers of testis function (by tertiles, T1-T3) were explored as predictors of adult semen quality using linear regression models. Associations between reproductive outcomes in infancy and young adulthood were estimated by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), describing how well measurements in infancy correlate with those in adulthood.
resultsSerum testosterone concentration in infancy was positively associated with adult total sperm count. Median (IQR) total sperm count was 84 (54-138) million spermatozoa for boys in T1, 141 (81-286) million spermatozoa in T2, and 193 (56-287) million spermatozoa in T3. We found the highest ICC for FSH (0.41; 95% CI, 0.26-0.57), while ICCs for inhibin B, SHBG, penile length, and testis volume ranged between 0.24 and 0.27. ICCs for LH and for total and free testosterone were lower and statistically nonsignificant.
conclusionSerum testosterone in infancy was a predictor of adult total sperm count. Other reproductive hormones and genital measures showed good correlation between infancy and adulthood, suggesting that an individual's reproductive setpoint starts shortly after birth in boys and persists until adulthood.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.