Sex hormone levels and androgen resistance in infertile males

Objective: To investigate the possibility of androgen resistance as a cause of male infertility.Methods: Two hundred and seven infertile males with normal karyotype were assigned to 4 groups according to their sperm count. Group 1 （n=56）: Sperm count was less than 10×10⁶/ml, Group 2 （n=52）: Sperm count（10~20）×10⁶/ml, Group 3 （n=48）: Sperm count （＞20~40）×10⁶/ml, and Group 4 （n=51）, Sperm count＞40×10⁶/ml. Every patient had a meassurement of basic serum levels of luteinizing hormone （LH） and testosterone （T）, and a calculation of LH×T product （index of androgen resistance, IAR）. Results: The basic levels of LH and T were elevated with the decrease of sperm count. Except that there was no statistical difference of LH concentration between Group 1 and 2, significant differences were shown of LH, Tand IAR among 4 groups （allP＜0.01）.Conclusion: Androgen resistance is one of the important cause for male infertility of oligospermia, particularly severe oligospermia or azoospermia.