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

Context: 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.
Objective: We describe circulating Sertoli and Leydig cell hormone levels in overweight-obese (ow/ob) boys through childhood and adolescence in a cross-sectional study.
Methods: 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.
Results: 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.
Conclusion: Lower Sertoli and Leydig cell hormone levels during puberty were observed in the ow/ob boys.
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