Serum Asprosin Levels in Obese Infertile Patients and Their Relationship with Insulin Resistance and Semen Quality

FENG Zonggang; WEI Lei; CHENG Lanlan; TAN Li

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1004-437X.2026.03.006

Abstract：Objective To investigate the serum asprosin levels in obese infertile patients and its relationship with insulin resistance and semen quality,and to explore the clinical value of asprosin in obese infertility.Methods Fifty-eight infertile patients who visited the Reproductive Center Andrology at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from May 2022 to October 2023 were selected as the infertile group,and 51 obese infertile patients were selected as the obese infertile group,and 50 age-matched pre-pregnancy physical examination participants during the same period were selected as the control group.The levels of asprosin,semen parameters and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance(HOMA-IR)were measured.Results Compared with the control group,serum asprosin,fasting plasma glucose(FPG),fasting insulin(FIns)and HOMA-IR were increased in infertility and obesity infertility groups,while sperm concentration,total sperm motility,forward motility sperm rate and normal sperm morphology rate were decreased(P＜0.05).There was a statistically significant difference between the obese infertility group and the infertility group(P＜0.05).After correcting the influence factors,the level of serum asprosin and HOMA-IR were negatively correlated with the rate of forward motile sperm(P＜0.05).HOMA-IR was an influential factor of asprosin(P＜0.05).The area under the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve for the diagnosis of obesity infertility by serum asprosin was 0.828(95％CI:0.750-0.884).Conclusion The serum asprosin level in obese infertile patients is elevated.The level of asprosin is closely related to insulin resistance and semen quality,and may be participate in the pathogenesis of obesity infertility directly or through insulin resistance.