Digit length ratio and male fertility among infertile patients in Ningxia / 中华男科学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the association between the digit length ratio (DLR) and male fertility in Ningxia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Using an electronic sliding caliper, we measured the lengths of the index finger (D2), middle finger (D3), ring finger (D4) and little finger (D5) of both the right and left hand of 136 infertile males in Ningxia, 45 of them with normal and the other 91 with abnormal semen, including 28 cases of oligozoospermia, 10 cases of obstructive azoospermia (OA) and 53 cases of nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA). We calculated the DLRs of D2D3, D2D4, D2D5, D3D4, D3D5 and D4D5 and compared them among different groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The mean values of FLR presented a pattern of D2D3 < D2D4 < D3D4 < D2D5 < D4D5 in the infertile males. DLRs of D2D3, D2D4, D2D5, D3D5 and D4D5 of the right hand were significantly higher in the abnormal than in the normal semen group (t = 2.56, 2.48, 3.57, 2.85, 2.53; P < 0.05); those of D2D3, D2D4, D2D5 and D4D5 of the right hand presented a pattern of NOA > oligozoospermia > OA > normal semen group, while that of D3D5 presented a pattern of NOA > OA > oligozoospermia > normal semen group. The NOA group showed a significantly higher DLR of the right hand than the normal semen group in D2D3, D2D4, D3D5 and D4D5, the oligozoospermia group in D2D4, D3D5 and D4D5, and the OA group in D2D3 (P < 0.05). The D4D5 DLR of the right hand was remarkably higher in the Han than in the Hui ethnic group (t = 2.01, P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Higher DLRs of D2D3, D2D4, D2D5, D3D5 and D4D5 of the right hand were associated with lower fertility in infertile males in Ningxia. And the D4D5 FLRs of the right hand may be different between Hui and Han infertile men in Ningxia.</p>