Urinary follicle stimulating hormone can be used as a biomarker to assess male reproductive function

To develop an algorithm for use in population-based studies to assess testicular function by measurements of total urinary follicle stimulating hormone (FSH).

Total concentrations of urinary FSH were measured in a group of 44 men at the University of California, Davis (UCD) and were compared to FSH measurements in serum. On the basis of these and other published data, a urinary FSH value of >2 ng/mg creatinine (Cr) was selected as the cutoff point to identify men with elevated serum FSH ( > 12 IU/L) or low sperm counts ( < 20 million/mL).

The sensitivity and specificity of this algorithm for detecting elevated serum FSH in a group of 58 agricultural workers in the People' s Republic of China were 100% and 50%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of this algorithm for detecting low sperm counts in a population of 105 infertility patients at UCD were 58 % and 76 %, respectively.

This test may have particular value in identifying populations with no evidence of testicular toxicity, and in which labor-intensive semen studies may not be feasible.