Lower Circulating Sertoli and Leydig Cell Hormone Levels During Puberty in Obese Boys: A Cross-sectional Study

Alterations in semen characteristics and circulating Sertoli and Leydig cell hormones have been described in obese male adults. Whether hormonal alterations occur before adulthood has not been fully evaluated.

We describe circulating Sertoli and Leydig cell hormone levels in overweight-obese (ow/ob) boys through childhood and adolescence in a cross-sectional study.

Monocentric study in the Pediatric Endocrinology Unit of Angers University Hospital. Three hundred and fifty-one obese and overweight boys aged 5-19 years underwent physical examination, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry for body composition, oral glucose tolerance test on insulin and glucose, and measurements of follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), inhibin B, testosterone, and estradiol. Hormonal levels were compared with normative data obtained from 652 healthy nonoverweight nonobese boys of similar age or Tanner stage.

Median inhibin B and testosterone levels during puberty were significantly lower in ow/ob than in healthy boys (1) from age >12 years and thereafter for inhibin B, and (2) from age >14 years and thereafter for testosterone. At Tanner stages 4 and 5, 26%, 31%, and 18% of inhibin B, testosterone, and AMH values were below the 5th percentile in ow/ob subjects (P < .01). In multiple regression analyses, estradiol and total bone mineral density Z-score were negative predictors of inhibin B, fat mass percentage was a negative predictor of testosterone, and insulin was a negative predictor of AMH.

Lower Sertoli and Leydig cell hormone levels during puberty were observed in the ow/ob boys.